39 Uses for a Friend By Harriet Ziefert

This book is has a very simple layout. The cover illustrates two best friends with a tree and a dog. The book has basic drawings with little details. This story has many creative ideas for what friends can be used for. I thought that friends being used as “alarm clocks, sprinklers, back scratchers, and as a napkin” were original. I enjoyed how each page has a border on the outside of the picture that added a unique quality to the simple page design. I also liked how the characters were different for each description. There are multiple races and both male and female paired together. I found that the font of the text was also very appropriate because it appears to be handwritten by a child. The words are advanced for a beginning reader, but with help from the illustration one could make an educated guess. I would recommend this book in a classroom library for grades first though forth. I think that it displays positive messages about friends.