Who wouldn’t love Little Brown Bear? He tries his best and is a good friend to others. These two books, It’s OK to Make Mistakes and It’s OK to Need a Friend, provide perfect scenarios with which to introduce important moral and social themes with young children.
The illustrations, by AnneliesDraws, may appear, to an adult eye, too simplistic. However to the young child’s eye they are fully compatible with the story being told. This helps them to understand the concepts of the messages being communicated. These illustrations also provide excellent opportunities for discussions with children around "making mistakes" and "what it means to be a friend".
Through focused questioning children may be drawn into the storyline, and encouraged to use their speaking and listening skills based around the child’s own experiences at nursery and the transition to primary school. These books, It’s OK to Make Mistakes and It’s OK to Need a Friend, provide parents and carers with a thoughtful springboard to help alleviate children’s initial anxieties about ‘making and needing friends’ and ‘’doing one’s best’ in new or different settings.
Both my grandchildren aged four and five years old, chatted happily about their current friends and then making new friends in reception class. Also those important questions, "Will it be alright not to get things right first time?" and "Who will be there to help?" can be addressed. The children enjoyed listening to the story and seeing Little Brown Bear’s responses to different situations.
I highly recommend these small books, It’s OK to Make Mistakes and It’s OK to Need a Friend, to support the transition from home to pre-school and then onto primary school.
PWT review: ♥♥♥♥♥
Published by Wide Eyed Books (Quarto Publishing) these books are available through bookshops and Amazon: