Thank you to Autumn Publishing for sending me a copy of Anyone Can Be My Friend. A rhyming board book that sets out to celebrate the uniqueness of all individuals, Anyone Can Be My Friend follows a bear as he looks for a friend. As author Marnie Willow highlights, a friend is "Someone to love, someone who'll care. There's countless people out, out there. But a bear just needs one special friend."
As the book illustrates a diversity of friends and families parents should be prepared to discuss the illustrations with their children if little ones have questions.
While I agree that sometimes children might have one friend that they especially like spending time with this board book almost makes it seem like children shouldn't be on the lookout for multiple friends. I think I personally would have liked the book better if the bear in the story had been making friends along the way instead of finding that one special friend at the end of the book. I particularly liked the illustration of the foods from around the world as it celebrates different cultures, cuisines, and traditions.
Thank you again to Autumn Publishing for the review copy.