A New Friend - Lucy Menzies - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Lucy Menzies
ILLUSTRATOR: Maddy Vian
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: June 7, 2022
RATING: 4.5 stars.

Awww, this was so sweet! (ᵔᴥᵔ)

Mae, who loves talking about space, has heard of a new boy joining her school today. She is determined to be friends with him. Joe, who has moved into town with his dad, is apprehensive about his new school as it always weird to find new friends. How will Mae and Joe meet? Will they become friends? (Yeah, you know the answer to that!)

The story by itself is lovely. Making new friends in a new school is never easy and the book highlights how important it is to take the first step in making a friend. The writing captures Joe’s insecurities and Mae’s determination so well. But there are two things that made the book stand out to me:

1. When I tell you that there’s a new kid in town and another kid wants to welcome him, I am sure most of you would picture the welcoming kid as white and the new kid either as white or coloured. So I loved to see that Mae was a Muslim (her mom wears a hijab) while Joe was a white child. Amazing decision to have this reversal of typical representation!

2. This is in the “One Book, Two Stories” format. Mae’s story comes on the left hand side while Joe’s appears on the right hand side pages. You can read the stories one at a time or both together. The stories complement each other perfectly without being distracting.

The illustrations are absolutely adorable and inclusive. The vocabulary level is apt for the target age group of 3-7 years.

Heartily recommended to homes, schools and libraries. You can’t miss out on this sweet little picture book.


My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the DRC of “A New Friend”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.


For those who find the idea of “One Book, Two Stories” appealing, please also check out “We'll Be Together Again” by the same author and also published by Quarto. Both books are equally amazing.

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