A New York Times bestselling author and two Caldecott Honorees share their delight in the little things that set two friends apart, and the big things that bring them together.
I really don’t care what you think of my hair
Or my eyes or my toes or my nose
I really don’t care what you think of my boots
Or if you don’t like my clothes. . .
Mostly I care that you’re you and I’m me
And I care that we’re us and we’re we.
I really don’t care what you think of my hair
Or my eyes or my toes or my nose
I really don’t care what you think of my boots
Or if you don’t like my clothes. . .
Mostly I care that you’re you and I’m me
And I care that we’re us and we’re we.
Reviews
★ Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids 2022
★ A Fuse Eight Best Picture Book of 2022
★ Amazon Editor's Pick
★ "Fogliano's sprightly, rhythmic text sets a fun tone for exploring what really matters in friendship. While effective picture books grow from the combining of words and images, this book takes the collaboration a step further by drawing on the talents of real-life best friends and Caldecott honorees Idle and Martinez-Neal. . . . The result is a warm, loving celebration of how to be a friend, and a successful artistic experiment."
--Booklist, Starred Review
★ "A friendship book made by friends. . . . Fogliano's deftly rhymed verses, which never miss a beat in their cadence or in their emotional resonance, help readers realize that while the friends don't care about surface matters like appearance, attire, or possessions, they do care about each other. Compositionally, they end up occupying shared space on the spreads and will doubtlessly take up residence in readers' hearts, too. . . . Show you care by sharing this book with others."
-- Kirkus, Starred Review
★ "In silken soft graphite scenes with teal and yellow highlights, two children—each drawn by one of the two illustrators to be self representative—deliver a lesson in values that also happens to be as moving a declaration of close friendship as ever was. Like their expressions, which start out as scowls but change partway through to smiles and exchanged glances, the incantatory lines begin in forbidding tones (“i [sic] really don’t care what you think of my hair/ or my eyes or my toes or my nose”) but shift key for the important things: “i really do care/ that you always play fair…,” going on to “and i care if you smile/ and i care if you’re sad/ and i care if you’re worried/ and i care if you’re mad,” on the way to “and i care that we’re always/ and i care that we’re two/ and i care that we’re friends/ and i care that we’re true.” The lighter haired of the twosome is ambiguously gendered, and along with being easy on the eyes and written in language and cadences that particularly lend themselves to choral reading, this warm, wise, lyrical expression of togetherness is refreshingly clear of the sentimentality that goops up such similarly themed titles as Carmela Coyle’s Do Princesses Have Best Friends Forever? or Monica Sheehan’s Love Is You & Me. VERDICT A psychologically acute tally of friendship’s most solid foundations, worth sharing with audiences large or small and tailor-made for reading aloud."
-- School Library Journal, Starred Review
★ A Fuse Eight Best Picture Book of 2022
★ Amazon Editor's Pick
★ "Fogliano's sprightly, rhythmic text sets a fun tone for exploring what really matters in friendship. While effective picture books grow from the combining of words and images, this book takes the collaboration a step further by drawing on the talents of real-life best friends and Caldecott honorees Idle and Martinez-Neal. . . . The result is a warm, loving celebration of how to be a friend, and a successful artistic experiment."
--Booklist, Starred Review
★ "A friendship book made by friends. . . . Fogliano's deftly rhymed verses, which never miss a beat in their cadence or in their emotional resonance, help readers realize that while the friends don't care about surface matters like appearance, attire, or possessions, they do care about each other. Compositionally, they end up occupying shared space on the spreads and will doubtlessly take up residence in readers' hearts, too. . . . Show you care by sharing this book with others."
-- Kirkus, Starred Review
★ "In silken soft graphite scenes with teal and yellow highlights, two children—each drawn by one of the two illustrators to be self representative—deliver a lesson in values that also happens to be as moving a declaration of close friendship as ever was. Like their expressions, which start out as scowls but change partway through to smiles and exchanged glances, the incantatory lines begin in forbidding tones (“i [sic] really don’t care what you think of my hair/ or my eyes or my toes or my nose”) but shift key for the important things: “i really do care/ that you always play fair…,” going on to “and i care if you smile/ and i care if you’re sad/ and i care if you’re worried/ and i care if you’re mad,” on the way to “and i care that we’re always/ and i care that we’re two/ and i care that we’re friends/ and i care that we’re true.” The lighter haired of the twosome is ambiguously gendered, and along with being easy on the eyes and written in language and cadences that particularly lend themselves to choral reading, this warm, wise, lyrical expression of togetherness is refreshingly clear of the sentimentality that goops up such similarly themed titles as Carmela Coyle’s Do Princesses Have Best Friends Forever? or Monica Sheehan’s Love Is You & Me. VERDICT A psychologically acute tally of friendship’s most solid foundations, worth sharing with audiences large or small and tailor-made for reading aloud."
-- School Library Journal, Starred Review
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