Book Review: Will I Have a Friend?

| By: Committee for Children

by Miriam Cohen. Illustrated by Ronald Himler.
Reading Level: Preschool to Grade 1

Hovering on the outskirts of all the play, Jim spends his first day of school wondering if he will have a friend. All the other children already seem to have made connections with each other, but Jim doesn’t know how to break in. Finally, during a quiet moment, Jim and another boy make eye contact, share a toy, make a plan…and the ice is broken.

Children making the big leap into kindergarten may experience a jumble of feelings: excitement, nervousness, pride, fear, or anxiety. Miriam Cohen’s classic, Will I Have a Friend?, recently updated with Ronald Himler’s sweet illustrations, has a simple goal of reassurance for very young children. At the end of the day when Jim tells his father (they wear matching jackets on this special day) that he found a friend, his father says, with a smile, “I thought you would.”

 

Social and Emotional Lessons in Will I Have a Friend?

Like a jump roper, our protagonist waits, watches, and listens for the right moment to jump in with his peers. And because he takes his time and doesn’t force his way in, he gets the rhythm just right. Will I Have a Friend? is a good read-aloud for classrooms working on Unit 5 of the Second Step early learning program, which focuses on the transition to kindergarten. Jim and his new friends demonstrate how playing together, trading, and taking turns are fair and fun ways to play, and how inviting others to play and asking to join in are ways to make friends in kindergarten.

 

Classroom Activity

Have children write and illustrate a class book about their ideas and feelings about going to kindergarten. Include “chapters”:

• Look at Me Now! Talk about everything they can do now that they couldn’t do one year ago (“tie my shoes,” “sit still for a whole story,” “line up with my friends,” “write my name”).
• Imagine… Brainstorm a list of what they imagine kindergarten is like. Encourage all answers (“no rest mats,” “fun,” “different snacks,” “scary,” “no more Ms. Smith,” “my big brother’s school”). Children can draw pictures of themselves walking into their new school/classroom.
• I Know… If they have visited their kindergarten classroom, have the children remember everything they can about it (“hermit crab tank,” “big-kid desks,” “recess”).
• I Wonder … Here’s where children can explore their worries (“I wonder if I’ll be able to find a bathroom,” “I wonder if I’ll get lost in the halls,” “I wonder if I’ll have a friend”). Discuss these worries and have children come up with ideas for dealing with them. (“I can find someone doing something I like to do and ask if I can play with them. I can share my crayons.”)

If possible, make copies of the book for each child to take home and share with family.