A Circle of Friends

by Giora Carmi

In this wordless story, a boy anonymously shares his snack with a homeless man, and inspires a cycle of good will.

IBBY 2007 Outstanding Books Catalog & Exhibition

Teaching Tools Available

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Friendship

40 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Emma Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A circle of friends looks at how one kind act to those who are less fortunate can make a world of difference. In this wordless book, we see a boy buy a muffin with money his mom gives him. He eventually gives the muffin to a homeless man who then shares it with some birds and the muffin goes down the line in the circle of life. This book does a great job of subtly representing poverty. The homeless man is not shown for long, but the good deed of helping him is the main focus. I think the author did a great job of representing homelessness in a non-scary light. It also shows helping how those who are less fortunate benefit us in the end when the young boy is able to enjoy the sunflower that was created from the sharing of the muffin.
I think this book would be great for older children. There isn't much color to it and there are no words so it can be hard to fully understand the book at times. I enjoyed how when someone was helped in a book they are "lit up" and drew in bright yellows. I think this book is great for looking at poverty as something that is not shameful but rather a challenge that most face.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: This wordless picture book begins with a boy receiving money from his mother. He purchases food with the money and decides to share his food with a man that is homeless. As a result, it snowballs into a “pay it forward” situation as the homeless man then shares some of his crumbs with the birds. Eventually, the circle of kindness makes it all the way back to the boy.

Evaluation: I really like how this book is black and white except for a small pop of color in each picture. There is enough detail on each page for the reader to really think about what is happening in the story without needing any text to go with it. While I enjoyed this book, it would not be one of my first recommendations for a wordless picture book.

Teaching Idea: I would use this to teach students how to determine the importance from each page. Since there are no words students will only have the illustrations to use. This may be a good book to start out with when teaching students how to determine importance. Then, you can scaffold to using stories that have text for the students to sift through. One book with a similar theme that has text and may be helpful for scaffolding is Fly Free! by Roseanne Thong.

[Antonina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Circle of Friends is a touching story of generosity about a little boy who goes to a bakery to buy a sweet but then feels bad for a homeless man sleeping on a bench. That’s when a cycle of kindness starts where each time someone receives something, the good deed is spread further, and in the end, a reward returns to the little boy who started this circle of friends. The book has a straightforward storyline with a wonderful message that any child can understand.

The first thing that caught my eye was how the illustrator drew all the pictures in a black pen, with almost all the illustrations in black and white, except a few small things on some of the pages in color. What you realize is that to illustrate something happy, the illustrator makes objects that bring happiness in color. And that object then makes the person or living thing go from black and white to color with happiness. When the good deed is being received, the pictures are close up and in a box frame, and then when the good dead is being passed on, the images fill-up the whole page. The drawings are not what would be considered pretty, but they are detailed and support the story well.

[Bernadeh Mokhatas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Circle of Friends by Giora Carmi is a truly enthusiastic and inspiring wordless picture book, which is told entirely through illustrations and have the influential characteristic of being in black and white with a little bit of color highlight. This book has the powerful message of being kind to others. The author by his book tries to teach the reader how it is important to give things to people that are poor. In this wordless story, a boy leaves his fresh muffin with a homeless man sleeping on a park bench. When the man awakes, he shares crumbs with two birds. The birds accept the gifts and the baby bird flies down to meet the man. He gives him a seed, but the bird takes it and plants it in the child's window. This book displays the full circle of good deeds and the importance of caring for others. When a young boy anonymously donates his snack to a homeless man, he begins a cycle of goodwill that echoes and expands in a great circle of kindness.

[Tarnisha Tolliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Circle of Friends by: Giora Carmi

Many wordless books are filled with vibrant colors and illustrious illustrations that depict a story with little to no words. This story, however, is mostly black and white with only the main characters or objects in full color. As the reader turn each page there is something different in full color while everything else is black and white. Because of this particular style of illustration, the reader will assume that the object or person in color is significant on that page. This style of illustration makes it easy to follow the story of a very kind little boy, who uses the money his mother gave him to share with friends. Though there aren’t any words, the illustrations and color emphasis allow the readers to follow the story and feel sympathy for the characters in the story. I really enjoyed this one!

[Makaley Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

this wordless children's book told the story of a little boy getting money from his mom. He buys a muffin and decides to share it with a homeless man. The homeless man shares with the birds and it becomes a circle of people paying it forward and not being selfish. I thought the storyline was really cute and I was able to understand and follow well. The pictures were a unique style instead of being full of vibrant colors the author uses mostly black and white and on each page only one thing is colorful. I am assuming the author puts what she wants us to notice in color. The art contains many lines and is drawn by hand in pencil. It looks very cool however it is a unique style for a children's book. However, overall I really liked it.

[Giselle Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely in love with all books that are black and white and include minimal pops of bright colors in the key ideas between the pages. This book follows this same technique. While I imagined a story in my head as I was reading, I didn't imagine a particular voice reading it to me besides my own mind trying to label the actions that were occurring. As said, the pops of color truly helped a lot in creating a plot in my mind. What I 'read' from this book would be that kindness goes a long way. The mother in the story was kind to the child, so the child was kind enough to feed it to the hungry gentleman, and so the man fed it to the hungry birds and it continues from there.

If you think about it, the pops of color in this book symbolize kindness. Kindness is infectious!

[Kaitlyn Harp · Rating 3 out of 5]

What goes around comes back around, and that's what this book shows. Kindness is a trait that everyone should have and it's demonstrated in a perfect way. A young boy leaves his muffin for a homeless man that is sleeping on a bench. When the homeless man awakes, he's so happy to see a muffin. As he's eating he leaves crumbs for the birds, who take the crumbs to their babies. In the end, the baby birds go to the homeless man, who gives them seeds and they plant them in a flower box. The next day it rains and when the little boy looks out his window, he has big beautiful flowers outside his window!

[Jennifer Endsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book better than the other wordless picture books that I have read because the storyline was easier to understand and to interpret. The book is about a kid who gets money from his mom to buy a treat from the bakery. The kid passes by a homeless man and the kid gives him the bread. The homeless man then gives some of the bread to the birds that he saw sitting in a nest. The birds then gives it to their baby. This books talks about the importance sharing and how one kind act can impact others. This is a great book with a great message and is easy to understand.

[McCall DiLorenzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Circle of Friends tells the story of how a little kindness can spread and create beautiful results. This book has lovely pictures that have they important details of each image colored. The coloring directs the readers' attention and carries them through the story. This book shows kindness through pictures and encourages readers to create their own stories of kindness.

[Rani · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Wordless #Generous #YoungReaders #PictureBook #BookReview #ChildrensBooks #amreading A virtuous cycle.

[Regine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wordless book about a boy who does something nice for a homeless man and in return the circle of kindness continues.

[Ana Fogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me tear up quite a bit. That says a lot when there are no words to read. The story is told 100% through illustrations, with the majority being sketched and the pieces of the story that matter being in color. I would love to use this book at any age to teach empathy and other possible SEL lessons in my future classroom. I highly recommend "reading" this book and sharing it with others!

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Circle of Friends by Giora Carmi tells a story, through sparse, but effective illustrations, and an absence of text (wordless) of the "powerful effect that a single gesture can have" (front inside dust jacket). Within each image, Carmi focuses the reader's attention through the use of a single spot of color against a cross-hatched, sepia ink backdrop. The action is simple and yet profound, as each recipient of a kind and generous act, reciprocates a kind and generous act to another. Carmi uses a small tale, to create a large message, that is, that each of us has something of value to give, namely, of ourselves.

[Alyse Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this wordless story, a boy anonymously shares his snack with a homeless man, and inspires a cycle of good will. Within each image, Carmi focuses the reader's attention through the use of a single spot of color against a cross-hatched, sepia ink backdrop. The action is simple and yet profound, as each recipient of a kind and generous act, reciprocates a kind and generous act to another. Carmi uses a small tale, to create a large message, that is, that each of us has something of value to give, namely, of ourselves.

[Shauna]

This wordless picture book would be great to share with students to teach about caring, doing good deeds, and sharing. I think it can be used for multiple grades, but the main lesson being that good deeds get paid forward, and if you help someone, it will somehow be paid forward. Eventually, many people will benefit from the one good deed you did, and it will eventually come back to help you. I think there are numerous lessons that could go along with this book at any age.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book buddy colleague just shared this with me today, and I wanted to share with all of you. It’s a marvelous, wordless picture book with a touch a color on some pages, circling through a story of a boy, a homeless man, and a bird. The sketches are in brown tones, beautifully rendered, and each page made me hold my breath as I wondered what would be next. My friend who shared with her early primary students said the students were mesmerized.

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another wordless book to show the power of caring, and how one good deed "pays it forward." A Circle of Friends is a charming, lovely book! Again, it is universal, so that all students have access to the meaning of life and friendship. I intend to use it with my ELL students so they can tell the story in their own words and learn the power of the unwritten story.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really cute and it had lovely illustrations and a great use of color, but is seemed a little silly too me, and a little too convenient. Kids need to learn that while this kind of thing it nice, life rarely works out as perfectly as that. Sometimes you do nice things for people and they aren't very grateful in return. That's just how life is and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing illustrations....this wordless story is about giving. I loved it. I did have to change my rating from a 5 to a 4 though. While I love this book, I would like the book to have a cover makeover and a name change....I think it then may appeal to me and others more.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story to show the effects of kindness. Beautiful illustrations that show "what goes around, comes around." Could be used in the classroom to teach children that kindnesses go on and on. A great book for children.

[jenna Hudrlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful book with no words, it is basically about Karma, what goes around comes around by focusing on being respectful to people and animals.

[Hira · Rating 5 out of 5]

great illustrations

[Natalie Cottam · Rating 4 out of 5]

love this wordless book that illustrates perfectly how the good you put out there will eventually come back to you.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful story told through illustrations. Great to use in the classroom to get kiddos thinking and talking!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wordless story shows readers that often times "you get what you give".

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple book mostly black and white except the colored focus on the generous gift that gets given each page and how it makes the receiver feel. It is a pay it forward type story with no words.