Book Review: Seeking Best Friend

Seeking Best Friend. Written by Alison Marcotte and Illustrated by Diane Ewen, Beaming Books, January 25, 2022, Hardback and eBook, 32 places.

Reviewed by Christine Cassello.

This debut book by Alison Marcotte is written for ages up to seven years old. It aims to teach children how to find a friend by being one.

A little girl puts a sign on a tree: “Seeking Best Friend: Must be kind. A passion for bugs would be neat.” That sign gets the attention of an anteater who has a passion for “eating” bugs, not collecting them. When he eats some of her ant collection, she realizes she must add some “does nots” to her list of what she is looking for in a friend.

Other qualities she wants attract various real and imaginary characters, each of which has a fault. A girl playing dress-up scares her cat, which ends up being another “doesn’t” for the list. A robot breaks instead of fixing her bike. A pirate steals her treasures.

When the last one, a fire-breathing dragon, literally starts a fire, the boy next door puts it out with a garden hose. He watched the animals, people, robot, and dragon come and go.

When the little girl realizes that he is kind and has all of the interests she has, she tells him what she has to give their potential friendship: a love of nature, a cat whisperer, a problem solver, an adventurer, and a good friend. She works with the other characters and accepts the boy as her best friend.

This book will teach children how to look for people who like what they like to make friends and also gives a warning to avoid those who would do things that are not acceptable. The characters are fun and beautifully illustrated. It is a book parents or teachers would enjoy reading to children, and one children should enjoy learning to read themselves.