A multilayered book giving us the story of a shy girl learning to make friends, woven with the message of how books can be a source of both self-comfort and connection. Plentiful suggestions for diverse reads form a key part of the illustrations and storyline.
Lotti is a dreamer who doesn’t make friends easily, but loves to read. “Books make good friends,” she asserts, before sharing some of her favorite titles—and the illustration shows the spines of dozens of books by real authors, meticulously drawn by author/illustrator Jane Mount.
As the book progresses, we see more scenes from Lotti’s life at home and with her family. Books are never far, and the images show even more of them, with short blurbs for a few. After a family hike, for example, Lotti is inspired to read more about “real-life things,” and one page shows stacks of nonfiction titles. When she goes into her younger brother’s room, we see the picture books on his shelves. The books include both classics and recent contemporary titles, reflecting identities diverse in many ways.
One day at the library (where the shelves are again filled with images of real titles), Lotti hesitantly makes a new friend, Nadia, who also loves to read. This prompts Lotti to share with readers some books she’s read lately “about friends and being awkward or feeling different.”
While baking cookies with her Aunti Suneya and Nadia, Lotti gets the idea to share them at school as a way to get the other kids to say hi to her, “Just like in this book” she is reading. Indeed, it works, and Lotti realizes that making friends simply involves trying. She even makes friends with the shy new kid, Enzo, and together with Nadia, they all form a book club.
There are no obviously queer characters in the book, but several of the books are clearly LGBTQ-inclusive titles. Ones I was able to spot are: Dragon Pearl, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, The Best at It, Candidly Cline, The Only Black Girls in Town, Melissa, King and the Dragonflies, and Julián Is a Mermaid. I actually love that a kid who may or may not be LGBTQ is reading LGBTQ-inclusive books (and ones diverse in other ways)—that’s how it should be, for books are, in the famous phrasing of Rudine Sims Bishop and Emily Style, both windows and mirrors.
Books Make Good Friends is a recommended read in itself, and one that should be a seed for much further reading.
Back matter includes an Author’s Note, a page depicting the spines of her favorite childhood books, and a recipe for “Lotti’s Friend-Making Cookies.”
Lotti is White; Nadia has medium-brown skin and hair; Enzo has tan skin and black hair; and Suneya reads as Southeast Asian.
