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Short answer: for ages 3–7, start with The Little Book of Friendship for the simple rule (to have a friend, be one), Devon Makes a Friend for the child who finds hello frightening, and Strictly No Elephants for the child who has been turned away. Other lovely choices are Enemy Pie, The Invisible Boy and Frog and Toad Are Friends, plus Sharing Silver if you want a kindness story that explains why friendly children end up with friends. There are 13 books below, sorted by where your child is actually stuck: too shy to start, turned away, overlooked, or good at making friends but not at keeping them.
At a glance: which friendship problem each book solves
"My child can't make friends" is never one problem. One child hovers at the edge of a game and never asks to join. Another asks and gets turned away. A third makes a friend on Monday and has fallen out with them by Wednesday. Find the row that sounds like your house, then read that book first.
| Book | Author | Best for the child who… | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Little Book of Friendship | Zack Bush and Laurie Friedman | Needs the simple rule: to have a friend, be one | Amazon → |
| Devon Makes a Friend | Jessica Davault | Finds saying hello to someone new frightening | Amazon → |
| Strictly No Elephants | Lisa Mantchev | Has been left out of a group and needs to build their own | Amazon → |
| Making Friends Is an Art! | Julia Cook | Wants the step-by-step how-to of friendship | Amazon → |
| How to Be a Friend | Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown | Hits the tricky bits: bossiness, falling out, being left out | Amazon → |
| Enemy Pie | Derek Munson | Has already decided another child is not a friend | Amazon → |
| Sharing Silver | Super Silver Academy | Needs to hear why kindness and sharing bring friends back | Amazon → |
| The Invisible Boy | Trudy Ludwig | Is the quiet one nobody notices | Amazon → |
| Stick and Stone | Beth Ferry | Is on their own in the playground | Amazon → |
| Duck & Goose | Tad Hills | Is little, and both children want the same thing | Amazon → |
| Little Blue Truck | Alice Schertle | Needs to see that being friendly first comes back to you | Amazon → |
| Frog and Toad Are Friends | Arnold Lobel | Makes friends easily but struggles to keep them | Amazon → |
| Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea! | Ben Clanton | Is reading alone now and wants a friend unlike them | Amazon → |
1. The Little Book of Friendship — by Zack Bush and Laurie Friedman
A warm, rhyming little book about the simplest truth of friendship: the best way to make a friend is to be one. Lovely for talking through small, doable ways to be kind and welcoming. View The Little Book of Friendship on Amazon →
2. Devon Makes a Friend — by Jessica Davault
A gentle story following a child through the nerves and small brave steps of making a new friend — relatable for any little one who finds saying hello hard. View Devon Makes a Friend on Amazon →
3. Strictly No Elephants — by Lisa Mantchev
A boy and his tiny pet elephant are turned away from the local pet club, so they start their own — one where everyone is welcome. A beautiful story about inclusion and being the friend who lets others in. View Strictly No Elephants on Amazon →
4. Making Friends Is an Art! — by Julia Cook
Part of Julia Cook's well-known social-skills series. A relatable character learns the everyday habits that help make and keep friends — practical and reassuring for a child who needs the how-to. View Making Friends Is an Art! on Amazon →
5. How to Be a Friend — by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown
A friendly guide (from the team behind Arthur) to making friends, being a good one, and handling the tricky bits like bossiness, falling out and feeling left out. A great reference to return to. View How to Be a Friend on Amazon →
6. Enemy Pie — by Derek Munson
For the child who has already decided that someone is not a friend. A boy's summer is ruined by a new kid he cannot stand, so his dad offers to make Enemy Pie — on one condition: the boy has to spend a whole day playing with his enemy first. You can see the ending coming and children still love it, because it hands them the thing that actually changes a friendship: time spent together before you judge. View Enemy Pie on Amazon →
7. Sharing Silver — for why kind children end up with friends
This one covers a slice of the topic rather than the whole thing. Sharing Silver is a story about sharing and giving: Silver the Super Pup walks a greedy dog named Bandit through the forest and shows him that kindness and sharing come back around. Friendship comes up in one line, "If you are friendly, you will have friends", and again when Silver says "the kindest animals have the most friends." There is no first hello or new-kid scene, so it won't walk a shy child through joining a game. What it gives is the reason underneath: be kind and share first, and friends tend to follow.
“The world is like a mirror. It reflects back what you give.”
Sharing Silver: a superhero training story about sharing and giving, for ages 3–7. A kindness story that touches on friendship, rather than a making-friends story.
View Sharing Silver on AmazonYou can read a sample of Sharing Silver first, or if your child is finding friendships hard, see our guide on what to do when your child has no friends.
8. The Invisible Boy — by Trudy Ludwig
For the quiet one nobody notices. Brian is never picked, never invited, and drawn in grey while the other children are in colour. When a new boy arrives and gets laughed at, Brian is the one who reaches out — and the colour arrives with the friendship. Read this with a child who has decided the problem is them. View The Invisible Boy on Amazon →
9. Stick and Stone — by Beth Ferry
For the child who is on their own in the playground. Two lonely shapes, barely any words, and a rhyme that four-year-olds fall straight into. Stone stands up for Stick when a pinecone picks on him, and that one act is where the friendship starts. Short enough to read twice in a sitting, which is how the idea sticks. View Stick and Stone on Amazon →
10. Duck & Goose — by Tad Hills
For the littlest ones, and the moment right before friendship: two birds both want the same thing. Duck and Goose each claim what they are certain is an egg, argue over it, then end up looking after it together (it turns out to be a polka-dot ball). Sharing a project, it turns out, is how toddlers make friends. View Duck & Goose on Amazon →
11. Little Blue Truck — by Alice Schertle
For the toddler who needs to see that being friendly first comes back to you. The little blue truck beeps hello to every animal on the road; the big dump truck cannot be bothered — until he is stuck in the mud and it is the friends the little truck made who push him out. The animal noises make it a read-it-again favourite. View Little Blue Truck on Amazon →
12. Frog and Toad Are Friends — by Arnold Lobel
For the child who makes friends easily and then does not know what to do next. Five short stories about the quiet middle of a friendship: waiting for a letter, sitting with someone who feels low, doing something kind that is a bit inconvenient. It is an early reader rather than a picture book, so it also works as the first thing they read to you. View Frog and Toad Are Friends on Amazon →
13. Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea! — by Ben Clanton
For the newly independent reader who wants a friend who is nothing like them. Narwhal is delighted by everything; Jelly is deeply sceptical; they are friends by the end of the first story anyway. A funny, low-pressure introduction to comics for five to eight year olds, and a good answer for a child who thinks friends have to be the same as you. View Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea! on Amazon →
How to choose, and how to read it
Pick a short story with one clear, friend-making idea — share first, include someone, say sorry — and a hero your child likes, then read it more than once so the move becomes familiar. The payoff comes when you name it in real life: "that was a kind, friend-making thing to do". Pair the reading with a small, doable step like inviting one child to play. For more, see raising a kind, sharing friend and playdate ideas that build friendship skills.
Why a story helps more than a talking-to
It also helps to know that friendship arrives in stages. In the 1930s the researcher Mildred Parten described a sequence of social play that is still taught today, in which young children move from playing near each other (parallel play) towards genuinely playing together. A three-year-old digging beside another child in the sandpit is not failing at friendship; that stage is part of it. What a picture book adds is a rehearsal. Your child watches somebody else say hello, get turned down, try again, and share the good bit — and gets the words for it before they need them, which is easier than being coached in the moment at the school gate.