Will I Have a Friend? - Softcover

Miriam Cohen is an avid champion of the emotional rights of children, and is interested in their "immense vulnerability, and their need to be nurtured, encouraged, and allowed to unfold naturally." She has spent many hours in classrooms reading, listening, and talking with children 'not as a lecturer, but as a fellow writer.' The time she has spent in the company of children is one reason why her books ring true, and why young readers hear themselves in the voices of her characters.

Miriam Cohen’s timeless story of a boy going to school for the first time is updated with new pictures by Ronald Himler. The text is tweaked in minimal ways (adding some confusion as to whether Jim’s father is called Pa or Dad), but otherwise the story remains the same. Jim still worries about having a friend until the afternoon when Paul shares his truck. It is the art that is fresh and new. While Lillian Hoban’s illustrations for the original included children of color, the printing process of the time limited the color palette. Himler’s soft watercolors are more contemporary in look, with touches like a recycle mark on the trash bin. Bill wears a colander as a rocket man’s hat in the Hoban version, while he rides in a space ship model in this update. Both versions are great for combating the new-kid-in-school blues. Preschool-Grade 2. --Bina Williams