The Friendship Book: A Children’s Book about Making Friends, Good Choices, Kindness, and Social Skills (Brave Kids Press)

Help your child make new friends and learn critical social skills. The Friendship Book: A Children’s Book about Making Friends, Good Choices, Kindness, and Social Skills helps children navigate new relationships and establish meaningful connections.

Throughout this vibrant story, Louie, a brave little elephant, teaches children how to create and practice social intelligence, even if they feel shy or nervous.

Focusing on five fundamental connection-building skills: empathy, sharing, support, boundaries and emotional regulation, and teamwork/listening – children will learn what it takes to make friends and become a good friend to others.

The Friendship Book: A Children’s Book about Making Friends, Good Choices, Kindness, and Social Skills is the 8th book in its series and follows the theme of helping children find their inner bravery by navigating change, transitions, and new feelings.

5 Key Elements to Establishing Meaningful Connection:

Empathy: Teaching empathy and compassion is recognizing and accepting that our shared experiences can result in treating others with love and kindness, especially when facing something difficult or sad. In short, it teaches children to try and understand what another might be feeling in a heavy or challenging time. It’s the act of reflecting on something they have similarly experienced – willing to be present in somebody else’s pain. Empathy helps make interpersonal decisions, strengthens relationships, and allows children to understand better how others see them.

Sharing: Teaching the importance of sharing is vital because children need to learn to play cooperatively, take turns, navigate complex negotiations, and perhaps deal with disappointment. It’s about teaching children the importance of compromise and fairness. Through sharing, children will learn that if they give to others, they will be rewarded with feeling good inside and perhaps receiving some of what they originally wanted in return.

Support: Supporting one another teaches children that they have a sense of connection and relationship with their community. Learning the importance of supporting others helps children form a sense of obligation and care for their friends and family. Supporting peers helps form a positive, forward-thinking mindset, creates a sense of belonging and purpose, and is a skill cherished and admired for a lifetime.

Boundaries: Creating and respecting other peoples’ boundaries is essential in any relationship. Learning these boundaries at a young age is extremely valuable for developing a solid sense of self. Personal boundaries and respecting the boundaries of others take practicing empathy (what others are experiencing and needing in a problematic moment) and teaches self-advocacy, listening to others (and our bodies’ needs), building effective communication, regulating emotions, and practicing patience.

Teamwork and Listening: When children learn to work as a team, they develop essential life skills like problem-solving, listening, collaboration, leadership, negotiation, and creative thinking. Nurturing teamwork skills also develops self-confidence, self-esteem, empathy, and compassion.

About the Author

Liz has been passionate about art and reading since she was a little girl. After graduating with a BA in Graphic Design and Fine Arts from The University of San Francisco, Liz decided she wanted to pursue a career involving her love for creativity and design combined with her passion for an impact on children and adolescents.

Her drive to instill confidence, bravery, individualism, kindness, grit, perseverance, and self-awareness stems from her life experience, struggles, and desire to raise her three young children with the positive mindset that they can accomplish any dream imaginable.