Book Review: Friends and Foes

Title: Friends and Foes: Poems About us All

By: Douglas Florian 

Published by: Beach Lane Books, July 10, 2018

ISBN:  978-1442487956

Plot Summary

Friends and Foes delves into the relationships of children. This isn't just a "feel-good" collection of the many fun parts of friendship. It also gets into the disagreements that can be so common amongst friends. Florian explores topics such as jealousy, drifting apart from friends, teamwork, imaginary friends, and having a friend move away. The poems are accompanied by illustrations that look like they were created with crayons, giving the book a whimsical, child-like feel.

Critical Analysis

Friends and Foes: Poems About Us All definitely covers a wide-range of relationship statuses that are common for elementary-aged students. Most children and adults will be able to connect with the common themes that run through the poems in the book. The book includes brightly colored illustrations that look like they were drawn in crayon. This brings to mind the drawings in a child's journal or notebook. The people in the illustrations have varied facial features, hair color and texture, and skin tones. This is a great example of including diverse populations through the illustrations since the text does not mention them explicitly.

The first poem in the book is called What Friends are For. This poem has 4 stanzas, each of which is comprised of 4 lines in an aabb rhyme scheme. The first three lines in every stanza begin with the word "For" and they list the different concepts and benefits of friendship. The last two lines in the first stanza contain clever wordplay: "For giving, Forgiving." This will inspire readers to look at words in new and different ways. The pattern of words is broken up at the end of the second stanza, with the lines "For waiting, relating". Although the beginning of the last line is no longer "for", the word "relating" fits well into the rhyme scheme and the rhythmic sound of the poem, and also names a major component of friendship. This poem does a nice job of setting the scene for the rest of the collection.

Some of the poems include more silly parts, such as Close Friends, which describes 2 friends who are so close to one another that they "share one pair of glasses". The poem uses rhyme throughout the lines to give it a whimsical feel, but this also makes it a bit tricky to read aloud. This seems to be intentional, to almost make the reader feel like their own voice is sticking "like glue, like glue" or "like thick molasses" as the poem describes the close friends. The illustration that goes with the poem shows 2 identical friends with curly red hair, who are sharing not only a pair of glasses with 3 lenses, but also a middle eye amongst them. They would certainly be friends who had to remain close (and may literally be stuck together!)

The tone changes remarkably in the next poem, You Lied to Me. Everyone will likely be able to identify with the emotions brought about by this poem. One of the best things about this book is that Florian doesn't shy away from the rougher side of friendship and one aspect of that would certainly be having some you trust lie to you. The poem is a very honest confession of the feelings that many of us have when someone lies to us that are at times hard to convey because we don't have the words to share or don't want to admit that we've been hurt so deeply. This poem would be invaluable in a classroom setting used to show students how to share feelings in an open and honest manner. The accompanying photo shows a child holding together their heart which has been broken, with their eyes closed in an expression that truly shows hurt.

Excerpt

"I'm Better"

I'm better at hiking.

                                             I'm better at biking.

I'm better at jogging.               

                                             I'm better at blogging.

I'm better at reading.

                                            I'm better at weeding.

I'm better at riddles.

                                            I'm better at fiddles. 

I'm better at walking.

                                            I'm better at talking. 

We each can find something

                                            that better we do,

but I'll never find a friend

                                            better than you!  

Use

"I'm Better" was written as a poem in two voices. The teacher and librarian can introduce the poem by reading it aloud together. The teacher could also select two volunteers to read the poem together. This is a nice introduction to poems for two voices. There are several others in the book that partners can present on their own after listening to "I'm Better".