Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

by Catherine Thimmesh

What makes a camel friends with a Vietnamese pig? Or a wild polar bear pals with a sled dog? In this young preschool book, Catherine Thimmesh makes us wonder at the truth and mystery of unlikely animal friendships. Because the stories behind these friendships are true, not contrived, captured by photographers in many countries ranging from Siberia to Japan, they not only give readers insight into animals but challenge preconceived notions about compatibility. This book also expresses tolerance of differences and makes us look at the kindness of animals—and humans—a little differently.

Genres: Animals, Friendship, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Photography, Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2011

About the author

Catherine Thimmesh is an award-winning author, speaker, and creativity educator.

Her creative children’s nonfiction titles have won numerous awards, including a New York Times Notable Book and the prestigious Sibert Medal. She is the author of the best-selling book: GIRLS THINK OF EVERYTHING: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women — which was substantially revised and newly released in 2018. TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon won the Sibert Medal, while CAMP PANDA: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild was a Sibert Honor book.

Her newest book — SMASH, CRASH, TOPPLE, ROLL! The Inventive Rube Goldberg: A Life in Comics, Contraptions, and Six Simple Machines — is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and releases May 6, 2025.

You can watch her discuss the importance of creativity in her TEDx talk: Creativity in the Classroom (in 5 minutes or less) on YouTube, or Catherine’s website.

Catherine lives and works in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three wonderful books in one. Pictures to delight the youngest and to teach them animal names. Large text in verse about what friendship means. And somewhat smaller 'notes' about the situation and critters in each photo.

I admit, it's not only a book that made my heart grow two sizes, but it also brought tears to my eyes to think that humankind still acts as if non-human animals are so much 'lesser' than humans.

I have no idea why I'm not giving it five stars. Maybe I should.

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my, the photos here are adorable. The baby badger is the cutest thing EVER. Reminds me totally of Frances the Badger from the children's book series.

Each spread features a poem about friendship accompanied by a photo of an unlikely pair of buddies: a kit fox and the baby badger, a cheetah and an Anatolian Shepherd, an orangutan and a tabby cat, and more, including several who would be natural enemies in the wild. Beneath the poetry, in a smaller font, is a brief description of the actual relationship between the two pictured animals.

Use in class for discussions on "What Makes a Friendship?" and mention that, as this book teaches us, we don't have to the same to be friends. We just have to be kind.

[Erin PearoMund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships by Catherine Thimmesh is a compendium of unusual animal friendships, with striking photographs of the animals.

The photographs, taken by a number of photographers, will really grab readers, especially animal lovers and kids. My favorite images include cat and orangutan, camel and pig, capybarra and squirrel monkey, cat and Asiatic Bear, and baby orangutan and tiger cub.

The poems are nice and the details interesting, in this compendium of unusual animal friendships. The main lesson seems to be one of tolerance. Some of these friendship were of short nature, others lasted for years. The reality of the death, at times, of one or the other of these pairs will sadden readers, but the arresting photographs of these unusual friendships will appeal to many. 3.5 rating.

For friendship, animals, photographs, poems, animal lovers, and fans of Catherine Thimmesh.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book - it really is. Animal relationships are fascinating to me and Julia so finding this was perfect. The stories shown here include a baby macaque and pigeon, an orangutan and a cat, a camel and a Vietnamese miniature pig, a giraffe and an ostrich, a lion cub and piglet, a Basset Hound and an owl, a frog and mouse, a baby badger and baby fox, a capybara and squirrel monkey, (this is so fantastic!) a polar bear and a chained Eskimo sled dog, (this is another!) an Asiatic bear and a cat, a yellow Lab and a cheetah, and last but not least, a baby orangutan and Sumatran tiger cub.
There are a lot of different variables here. Some of the relationships had human help, some didn't. Some relationships lasted minutes, if that, while others lasted for days or years. Some relationships had to be stopped because of the danger involved as one or both animals aged, some didn't.
It's really amazing and the book can show children - and adults - much.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally posted at: www.apatchworkofbooks.com

One word. ADORABLE. The animal friendships featured in this book are completely unexpected, but so much fun to read about. From the orangutan and the tabby cat to the badger and the fox and my favorite, the dog and the cheetah, you'll be "awwwwing" all the way through the book and the kids won't be able to stop flipping through either.

I loved the inclusion of a short poem on each page about friendship for each animal pair, such a nice touch to the already sweet book. The photographs are gorgeous and the paragraphs on the friendships were the perfect length for younger children.

More of a fun book to look at and talk about than an "educational" book, the overall lesson that comes across is one of tolerance of differences. Don't get me wrong, great things can be learned from this book, however it's more fun than "fact."

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friendships are often formed by those who have something in common, but sometimes, strange events in life prompt the most unlikely friendships to spring up. This book put me in mind of Owen and Mzee, the baby hippo and tortoise who bonded after the 2004 tsunami. Thimmesh has selected 13 unlikely animal pairings from 14 photographs and proceeds to describe what drew them together. If some of the friendships are fleeting and almost unfathomable, they also serve to remind readers that we all have some boundaries to cross as we make friends. In these pages, readers will see photos of the bonds between a baby macaque and a pigeon, an orangutan and a cat, a lion cub and a piglet, among others. The text is simple with simple rhyming lines in large font above a larger description of the animals below it in smaller font. Undoubtedly, this title will have a kid-appeal.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem! Each 2-page spread tells about a pair unusual animal friends, all found in zoos, sanctuaries, or other captive places except for the frog and the mouse. The text includes quotes about friendship and the background behind the unusual friendships. The pictures are so cute, the animals so adorable! Pair this with Own and Mzee. You won't stop saying, "Awwwww..." until the end of the book. Highly recommended!

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to show how animals that are so different can still get along, and this can carry over to people. The photography is amazing.https://www.goodreads.com/book?ref=na... I read this every year to my students. They love it.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candid, heartwarming snapshots of a Peacable Kingdom. A book every animal lover will want. Libraries will want to have multiple copies.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

my kids and I enjoyed reading this book. I thought that the poem was cute. I would recommend this book to others.

[Tracy The Great · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was so cool and amazing! it is also so interesting that these animals are just like us and can be friends with one another

[BEVERLY HALL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary! An ideal gift.

Just read it...I really didn't need to say more, but this silly app makes you write a minimum number of words....oh, brother...

[Kalley the Chipmunk · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorites are the dog and cheetah and the fox and badger

[Zoey the Squirrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are cute but I like our other animal friends book better

[Azul]

is very good

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Photographs were as touching as the stories

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendships are so special, but these animal friendships are definitely extraordinary! Photos are phenomenal!!

[Michelle Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What we can learn from animals is that what we look like doesn't matter to a true friend

[Casandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to say this, but I've seen better photos/read better stories on the internet. It's very ok.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships is a wonderful book, and I love it. There are two ways to "read" it. The first is by simply pointing and naming the animals and talking about the two of them and their attributes. The second is through poetry about what friendship is. My favorite part is the large photographs of animals cuddling.

Recommended age: 1-3 years

Writing style: Poetry with some repetition in word choice, like "No matter." Expect to learn about different attributes of animals and their actions to compare and contrast.

Lexile range (unofficial): 610L - 800L
Decoding difficulty: 3/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 5/5
Sentences difficulty: 5/5
Patterns difficulty: 4/5

Illustration style: One page contains colored text on a white background, while the other is a full-page photograph of two animals that are unlikely friends, such as a pig and a lion.

Reality-based? Yes. The book contains real photographs of animals.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships was written by Catherine Thimmesh and is an informational book all about the unique relationships of animals that would normally be enemies to one another.
The characters of this story are all from different places. They have different homes, eat different foods, and get around in different ways. But the unique thing about them is that they are all united by strange friendships. Each animal in this story was either lonely, hungry, tired, or curious, and they ultimately found someone to comfort their needs. Some odd examples of true friendships developing happened between a tiger cub and baby monkey, a giraffe and an ostrich, a baby monkey and a pigeon, and a full grown bear and a cat. As strange as they seem as a pair, they became friends until death do they part or until caretakers had to separate them due to size.
The setting of this story changes with each new friendship. Some of the animals are from the zoos around the United States, other are pets that we have in our homes, and still others are rescued from the wild and their pictures were caught in the moment. The animals’ stories come from England, Florida, China, Siberia, Africa, India, Canada, Berlin, Ohio, Indonesia, and Japan, and ultimately, it goes to show that there’s a true friend out there for everyone!
I really enjoyed the pictures in this book, and I think the pictures say more than the words do. In fact, I think this book could stand alone as a wordless picture book and it would have just as much effect on its readers. Of course, because the book is informational and all about these animals’ friendships, there is no real suspense or sense of adventure within it. The wording that describes what a friend is or what a friend does is a very relaxing text that can be good for deeper thinking or critical thinking. The voice that I imagine reading this part of the book is very deep and calm, expressing what TRUE friendship looks like and how important it is. The paragraphs that explain what the pictures show is also interesting information and is appreciated, but I think it may be a little too informational for really young readers. The voice of this text sounds too robotic for the impact this book is trying to make; therefore, I think that this text could be read or ignored depending on the age of the audience and the purpose behind the reading.
I also really liked the concept of this book and its big idea. I love the idea of using this book for a lesson on finding friendships in the oddest of places or becoming friends with someone you didn’t expect to be your friend. There are endless writing opportunities connected to this book and for that reason I appreciate it so much more!
Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships can be purchased on Amazon for $11.55 and is appropriate for children ages 4-10. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2011, and its ISBN is 978-0-547-39010-9. I would recommend this book to all teachers for their library center and to children who love animals and connect with animal stories.

[Kacy Josten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, Cuddly, and heartwarming, Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships, written by Catherine Thimmesh is a book about animals who have for one reason or another become friends, even when the laws of nature would tell us otherwise. Throughout the book, there is a poem about what friendship means, and how friends treat one another. On each page there is also a photograph of animals from around the world that have made friends with animals of another species. And along with each photograph there is the true story of their friendships. The book, Friends, features a baby macaque and a pigeon, an orangutan and a house cat, a lion cub and a piglet, and a mouse and frog to name a few of the friendships.
This book was fun to read because not only was it a full poem, but each photograph told its own story as well. This book could be read nonstop as a poem or page by page including the story of each photograph. The photographs were touching. All of the animals featured in the book were so sweet and this book teaches a great lesson, that no matter what a person looks like or what we have been told, friendship doesn’t see colors or stripes or species. Friends come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and skin/fur types.
This book could be used in a classroom setting in many different ways. A teacher could use it when teaching about friendship. Friends could also be used at the beginning of the year to talk about the value of treating everyone with respect because you never know who might be a great friend. This book could also be used when teaching poetry. The poem about friendship could serve as a wonderful example of free verse poetry. This book could also be useful if you were to be talking about the food chain. A teacher could ask, “Why do these two animals make an unlikely pair?” The students could then determine how the animals relate on the food chain.
I enjoyed this book as a 25-year-old person. I think that the stories of the animals in the photographs are inspiring. I know that children would find this book entertaining as well. The book talks about animals that would typically eat each other in the wild, but have instead become friends; I think students would find that fascinating. This is a cute, inspiring, testament to friendship for a person of any age.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Mommy's review from 5/12)


This is an amazing book - it really is. Animal relationships are fascinating to me and Julia so finding this was perfect. The stories shown here include a baby macaque and pigeon, an orangutan and a cat, a camel and a Vietnamese miniature pig, a giraffe and an ostrich, a lion cub and piglet, a Basset Hound and an owl, a frog and mouse, a baby badger and baby fox, a capybara and squirrel monkey, (this is so fantastic!) a polar bear and a chained Eskimo sled dog, (this is another!) an Asiatic bear and a cat, a yellow Lab and a cheetah, and last but not least, a baby orangutan and Sumatran tiger cub.
There are a lot of different variables here. Some of the relationships had human help, some didn't. Some relationships lasted minutes, if that, while others lasted for days or years. Some relationships had to be stopped because of the danger involved as one or both animals aged, some didn't.
It's really amazing and the book can show children - and adults - much.

[Kate Hastings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grades 1-4. One of the Buckeye Children's Book Award nominees for 2013. I was really surprised the students enjoyed this as much as they did. The book features unusual animal friendships (pig and camel, cheetah and dog, owl and dog, frog and mouse). The book is a poem about qualities of friendships. In smaller print at the bottom were facts about the animal friendship. This was a good book for modeling text elements (smaller print, bigger print, photographs). I paired this with a clip from National Geographic's Unusual Pet Friendship series-- and showed them Kate and Pippin, the true story of a Great Dane and a fawn. I was also able to highlight many other true animal friendship books from our collection. This book won the vote for our school!

[Laura Salas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends celebrates unexpected friendships. One rhyming poem spans the entire picture book, and each spread has an oh-my-lord adorable animal pair photograph and a brief prose passage describing the animals' circumstances/relationship. The photos are simply irresistible (Robert Palmer, get out of my head). The lion cub and piglet and the orangutan and tiger cub are my favorites! I love the stories about the animals. At first, I was unsure about including some that were such brief relationships, but then that grew on me. We meet people all our lives at school or work or on our block with whom we form relationships. They might not be forever friendships, but they still matter. The kindness and comfort we give and take matter, and it really shines in this beautiful picture book.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories about animal friendships, often formed between species who in the wild regard one another as enemies. A poem introduces and sums up each pair's extraordinary friendship and then a brief paragraph provides zoo information and details about how the animals came to prefer each other's company. Text is mirrored by a full color, full page photo of the animal pairs interacting.

This is a great family read. The photos will charm everyone and the stories will touch their hearts.

I was especially excited to see a set of friends in my neck of the woods at my favorite zoo to date (Cincinnati Zoo), but equally excited to visit zoos around the world through the pages of this book.

[Hailee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This nonfiction picture book by Catherine Thimmesh displays unthinkable friendships between polar opposite animals, such as a tiger cub and a baby orangutan, or a polar bear and a pack of sled dogs. While most of these friendships didn't last long due to the animal's safety, this book uses rhyming words to distinguish the depth of each individual friendship. The photographs throughout the book are heartwarming and any aged reader will fall in love with each unusual story. "Friends" reiterates that a friendship shouldn't be based off of who you are on the outside. Friendship is about what is within.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet book of short stories about different animals finding comfort from one another. Often, these animals are considered quite incompatible or unlikely to form a bond with one another, but they do so anyway. Whether it was for a few moments or for years, the big, colorful photos capture the essence of the companionship. The narrative includes a small poem and a short narrative that describes how each animal pair became friends. We enjoyed reading this book together and have read it a couple of times.

[Cally O'Brien]

Audience: Animal lovers, science teachers, librarians looking for read aloud with animal or friendship theme,

Appeal: This book has two levels of text that extend it's audience from young children who like to look at the animal pictures to older children and adults who are interested in the stories behind the pictures.

California Reading Association's Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Book Award-2012