Welcome Is a Wonderful Word

by Gyo Fujikawa

Jenny and her two friends welcome a new girl who has moved into their neighborhood.

Genres: Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Gyo Fujikawa was an American illustrator and children's book author. A prolific creator of more than 50 books for children, her work is regularly in reprint and has been translated into 17 languages and published in 22 countries. Her most popular books, Babies and Baby Animals, have sold over 1.7 million copies in the U.S. Fujikawa is recognized for being the earliest mainstream illustrator of picture books to include children of many races in her work, before it was politically correct to do so.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This appears to be a companion book (a prequel, actually) to Jenny Learns a Lesson , which I reviewed last month. In this book, Jenny notices that a house that has been for sale has been sold and there are some new neighbours. Hoping that there will be a little girl there, Jenny goes to investigate. But the kid won't open the door. So Jenny and her friends, Sam and Nicholas, decide to make the new girl feel as welcome as possible.

It's a sweet story, although it's more simple than Jenny Learns a Lesson, and doesn't have as much of a message. The fact that the children go out of their way to be friendly to the new girl is nice, but it doesn't make for a really interesting plot.

Just like in the companion book, the illustrations are a cute mix of colour and black-and-white. I think I preferred the pictures in Jenny Learns a Lesson, though.

I'm trying to track down some of the Gyo Fujikawa favourites I read as a child. Unfortunately, I can't remember specific titles... but I'll know them when I see them. I don't think I read Welcome Is a Wonderful Word or Jenny Learns a Lesson when I was a child. There's really no reason they can't be enjoyed by the kids of today, though.

Quotable moment:

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but if you are lucky enough to find one, don't let it go. The illustrations go back and forth from color to black and white, while the story takes you on a journey of a young girl who moves to a new town and learns how to make new friends. Each child in the story is wonderfully diverse and it's a great book to read to little children! They need to print more!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Dog is Shags, friends to Jenny are Sam and Nicholas, no Sean.)
Absolutely darling, but maybe too simple for today's children? Told from the pov of the established group, instead of from the newcomer's pov, which strikes me as odd.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such good memories but I don’t remember it being like how it was when I re read it

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book lived at my grandmothers house and always facinated me. What I found amusing recently was discovering the main characters name is Jenny and she has a friend Sean and there is even a character named Sam (though I think it is a dog) my life was set up in this book and I never knew it.