A child’s environment plays a vital role in his/her development cycle. Millions of children across the globe often fail to reach their potential cognitive and social development capacity because of various factors such as poverty, poor health, malnutrition, and deficit care. Friendship is one of the critical skills that children should be allowed to learn to enable them to enhance their cognitive and social development capacity. Three books that perfectly portray the theme of friendship among children, which can be used in informing and encouraging children to make a mutual attachment with their friends are the Stick and Stone, Big Friends, and the Hooray For Hat. This paper examines the theme of friendship illustrated in stick and Stone, and also provides other pieces of literature that have the same subject.

Friendship is a mutual relation between two or more people. Friendship remains an essential aspect of individuals’ lives. Friendship enables individuals to share problems, ask for advice, share a good time, all of which are crucial in enhancing a person’s health. Children too need friendship from the early stage of their growth to enable them to develop good attributes such as social competence, self-esteem, altruism, and self-confidence (Holder & Coleman, 2015). Through friendship, children are always able to learn more about themselves, thus developing their own identity (Beazidou & Botsoglou, 2016). Different fun books which portray the theme of friendship have been written to enable children to learn and explore various aspects of friendship skills. These books often portray the need for children to play together and foster a friendly relationship as one of the ways of enhancing their cognitive development.

The Stick and Stone Story

The book Stick and Stone in a storybook that revolves around the friendship of two great friends, Stone and Stick, who were ready to defend and help each other when faced by problems. When Stick rescues Stones from a prickly situation with Pinecone, the two get to know each other better and immediately become friends. Initially, Stone and Stick had one thing in common; they were both lonely and stood alone. Because of standing alone, Stone feels zero while Stick seems depressed. The two are even disappointed in playing because none of them could enjoy their respective games when both of them were playing alone. However, after coming together, the two become friends, playing together with more fun, and even ready to defend one another. When Pinecone, a prickly scamp character with a mean attitude, taunts and teases Stone, Stick comes to the latter’s rescue by telling Pinecone to vanish. The book touches on the meaning of true friendship among individuals and how it helps people to overcome various barriers in their daily lives.

The Big Friends  Story

In the book titled Big Friends, the authors, Linda Sarah and Benji Davies, examine the theme of friendship among children and the need for them to make new friendsto allow them develop normally. The two main characters of the story, Birt and Etho become best friends, and their friendship helps them achieve a lot together. Together, the two play outside their houses in big card boxes. While playing, the two assume different careers and roles. In some cases, they act as kings, astronauts, and even soldiers. In some instances, the two play as pirates sailing their ships deep in the seas. Things, however, change when a new boy arrives and wants to be part of their friendship. Initially, Birt and Etho find it hard to trust their new partner. However, they later become the best friends as they learn to appreciate each other. The book is very informative and introduces many skills that help children on how they can often foster a cordial relationship with their peers.

Hooray for Hat! Story

In the book titled Hooray for Hat!, the author, Brian Won, illustrates the need and significance of considering other people’s feelings and helping them when they feel sad or upset. The book narrates the story of two greats friends whose friendship allowed them to live a fulfilled life. The story begins when one of the characters, the Elephant, wakes up one morning with a very grumpy state. However, his mood completely changes after the arrival of a package that contained hats.  Putting these hats on, the Elephant proceeds to his friend’s place, the Zebra’s, where he realizes that even his friend also woke up with a bad mood. Because of the extra hats that he gives to the Zebra, the latter’s mood completely changes for the better. The same aspect of true friendship is portrayed by the Lion, who felt that he should not be happy when his other friends like the Turtle and the Owl were unwell. The story demonstrates to children to always portray true friendship by ensuring that their friends are always happy. Some of the questions concerning the theme of friendship that are depicted in the above three books are;

Q1. Was the friendship between Stone and Stick really mutual and benefited both parties?

Q2. Can the entrance of another stranger affect the friendship between two individuals who were initially good friends?

Justification

It is apparent from these three storybooks that mutual friendship is vital in enhancing the lives of individuals in society, including children. These books described above narrates how true friendship allowed the character to overcome various obstacles such as bullying and grumpy mood. Children, during their early childhood development stage, often require the companionship of their fellow peers to develop various important life aspects such as trust, care, love, kindness, and socialization, features which are crucial in a child’s cognitive growth. Each of these books discusses specific aspects of friendship. The story titled Big Friends analyzes the issue of how new friendship between children, Hooray for Hat! portrays the element of social responsibility that friendship, while the Stick and Stone story discusses the need for friends to stick together and help each other in times of needs. These three books are, therefore, relevant in discussing the theme of friendship among children.

Strategy and Learning Outcome

Teachers are required to adopt effective strategies when using these three books to allow students to understand the various aspect of the theme of friendship portrayed in the three stories. Teachers can use two approaches to achieve this objective. First, they can involve the children in dramatizing the texts. The books have different characters portraying different roles, which students should be allowed to assume and act, to enhance the practicality of what the authors discuss. Secondly, the teachers can also encourage the children to read these books together and then asking them what they have learned about the traits of various characters in these three books.

It is evident from the above discussion that a child’s environment affects his/her cognitive and social growth. More importantly, the above three books prove that children should be encouraged to make friends since it helps them to learn, play together, understanding and developing good habits, which makes them be responsible adults when they grow up. In conclusion, therefore, teachers and parents must always encourage children to make friends more often and also encouraging them to reads such storybooks that portray friendship themes.

References

Sarah L. (2016). Big Friends. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

Holder, M. D., & Coleman, B. (2015). Children’s friendships and positive well-being. In Friendship and happiness (pp. 81-97). Springer, Dordrecht.

Beazidou, E., & Botsoglou, K. (2016). Peer acceptance and friendship in early childhood: the conceptual distinctions between them. Early Child Development and Care, 186(10), 1615-1631.

Ferry, B., & Lichtenheld, T. (2015). Stick and stone. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Won B. (2014). Hooray for Hat!, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.