Will I Have a Friend?

Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year

When Pa was taking Jim to school for the first time, Jim said, "Will I have a friend at school?" "I think you will," said Pa.

But even his father's gentle reassurance doesn't make Jim feel any better. The other children in kindergarten are scary strangers to him. He's sure that he'll never find a friend...until naptime, when he discovers someone who feels the way he does.

Children's Literature

Originally illustrated by Lillian Hoban and published by Macmillan in 1967 as part of the "First Grade Friends" series (other titles were When Will I Read? and Tough Jim), this well-loved book has been republished with new illustrations. The story remains the same. On the first day of school, Jim asks his father, "Will I have a friend?" Dad's reassurance seems not to be borne out in the first half of this gentle "slice of life" story, and this contrast provides both tension and forward momentum. As Jim settles into his classroom, it seems likely that Dad was wrong and there is no friend waiting in the wings. Naptime marks a point of despair, as well as the only thing even closely approaching a turning point in this story. That is delivered more in the painting of a small shared truck than it is in the understated words. With its simple, straightforward text and its new, expressive watercolor-and-pencil art, this book captures the anxiety of that first school day. Himler has said that he chose to minimize the classroom setting in favor of focusing on gesture and facial expression. The illustrations transport the spare text with its classic feel across the four decades that have elapsed since its first publication. By the time Jim comes home he feels he has made a friend after all. Readers may enjoy a comparison between the whimsy of the original illustrations and the soft realism of this interpretation, with its focus on a diverse range of children with distinct and recognizable personalities. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami