Tony and Lauren Dungy did a great job with this book! The story begins with siblings, Jordan, Justin, and Jade, playing freeze tag in their front yard when they notice a moving van pull into a house nearby. The children fill up with excitement and run inside to tell their mother about their new neighbors. Jade gets extra excited and hopeful that she will finally have a girl around to be friends with. The family bakes cookies and brings them to the new neighbors. This is when Jade realizes that her new friend that she had been hoping for, Hannah, is in a wheelchair. Jade then worries that Hannah will not be able to participate in activities that her and her other friends do and she becomes hesitant to become friends with her. Jade’s parents give her some great advice, and basically from then on they are best friends! Tony and Lauren Dungy did a great job getting their point across that people should love and be accepting of everybody no matter what they look like! Ron Mazellan did an amazing job with the illustrations! I love the detail and how everything just flows together really well! This book is great and can potentially encourage readers to be more friendly and accepting of others. ( )

“You Can Be a Friend” is about a young girl who becomes best friends with her new neighbor, who she once thought she would have nothing in common with because her neighbor was in a wheelchair. This book does an amazing job teaching children to look beyond a person’s disabilities and to not judge people by the way they look on the outside. The main character in this story realized that once she got to know her neighbor, they had many things in common. The authors of this book conveyed the message they were aiming to; “Sometimes we see people and we don’t think they’ll be friendly or fun because of the way they look. Jade’s parents helped her get to know Hannah because that’s what God wants us to do. He loves everyone, and He wants us to love everyone too.” ( )

Jade was so happy when knowing that there's a new neighbor moved in and soon she will get a new friend. And finally she saw Hannah her new neighbor which is the girl in wheelchair.
Age: 4-7
Source : Amazon

Jade is excited because there is a new family moving next door to them and it's a girl. Jade realizes that Hannah is in a wheelchair and she is shocked. The girls became good friends and played very well together. Jade's birthday is coming up and she planned on having her party at the water park. She realizes that Hannah won't be able to do much at the park so she decides to move her party to the zoo. I enjoyed this book because Jade never treated Hannah any different even though she was in the wheelchair. ( )

NCLA Review: The Dungys use their family as the basis for this fictitious story. A new family moves to their neighborhood, and one of the daughters, Hannah, uses a wheelchair. Slowly, a friendship grows between one of the Dungy daughters, Jade, and Hannah. A problem arises when Jade wants to have her birthday party at a water park, but that will mean Hannah cannot participate like the other children. How the problem is handled leads to a beautifully illustrated story of understanding and reaching out to others. This book would be a wonderful lead-in discussion with children; suggestions for resolving the problem could be explored before reading the entire story. For ages 4-7. Rating: 4 —KHB ( )