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Friends and Foes: Poems About Us All
There are all kinds of friends—good friends, bad friends, old friends, new friends…even imaginary friends! This collection of poems explores the many facets of friendship.
48 pages, Hardcover
Published July 10, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 12, 2019
This book could actually be helpful to kids. It has poems about lying, about things we might not like in our friends, about how to be a friend, about moving away, about smart friends, best friends and former friends.
There are three (?) poems for two voices - good for reciting with a friend.
One of my favorites: "Friendship is a flower."
The illustration on the back cover is not so good. :(
There are three (?) poems for two voices - good for reciting with a friend.
One of my favorites: "Friendship is a flower."
The illustration on the back cover is not so good. :(
April 27, 2019
A new book by author/illustrator Douglas Florian is always a treat. His poems are clever, funny, and entertaining for both children and adults.
This particular book celebrates difference and diversity, and the richness of the friendships that can result. As he explains in “Strangers," one of his twenty-five poems:
“Once we two were strangers.
I found you somewhat strange.
But when I learned about you,
Then things began to change.
We come from different cultures.
We speak a different tongue.
I come from California.
You grew up in Hong Kong.
The foods we eat are different.
Our clothes are different too.
We’ve got different religions.
I look different than you.
Once we two were strangers.
We seemed so far apart.
But now despite our differences,
We’re both the same at heart.”
He has poems about friends growing apart, friends moving away, group friendships, nonhuman friends, and even about imaginary friends. He also has poems about how to understand friendship. Does it mean doing errands for someone else or taking advantage of another person? Does it mean giving each other things? And what about jealousy?
He ends with:
“Friendship is a flower.
You have to let it grow.
You really cannot rush it.
You have to take it slow.
Friendship is a flower.
You have to give it room
So it can grow the deepest roots
And marvelously bloom.”
Illustrations by Florian are rendered as if they were drawings made by children using colored pencils and crayons, with simplistic figures and plenty of scribbling along the sides.
Evaluation: This is a great book to read with young children (around aged 5-9) who are just beginning to navigate the rocky shoals of friendship. While I admit to preferring Florian’s science rhymes, these poems have wider applicability and can give children something to think about in terms of forming or breaking alliances.
Rating: 3.5/5
This particular book celebrates difference and diversity, and the richness of the friendships that can result. As he explains in “Strangers," one of his twenty-five poems:
“Once we two were strangers.
I found you somewhat strange.
But when I learned about you,
Then things began to change.
We come from different cultures.
We speak a different tongue.
I come from California.
You grew up in Hong Kong.
The foods we eat are different.
Our clothes are different too.
We’ve got different religions.
I look different than you.
Once we two were strangers.
We seemed so far apart.
But now despite our differences,
We’re both the same at heart.”
He has poems about friends growing apart, friends moving away, group friendships, nonhuman friends, and even about imaginary friends. He also has poems about how to understand friendship. Does it mean doing errands for someone else or taking advantage of another person? Does it mean giving each other things? And what about jealousy?
He ends with:
“Friendship is a flower.
You have to let it grow.
You really cannot rush it.
You have to take it slow.
Friendship is a flower.
You have to give it room
So it can grow the deepest roots
And marvelously bloom.”
Illustrations by Florian are rendered as if they were drawings made by children using colored pencils and crayons, with simplistic figures and plenty of scribbling along the sides.
Evaluation: This is a great book to read with young children (around aged 5-9) who are just beginning to navigate the rocky shoals of friendship. While I admit to preferring Florian’s science rhymes, these poems have wider applicability and can give children something to think about in terms of forming or breaking alliances.
Rating: 3.5/5
December 20, 2018
Richie’s Picks: FRIENDS AND FOES: POEMS ABOUT US ALL by Douglas Florian, Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane July 2018, 48p., ISBN: 978-1-4424-8795-6
“Anyone will tell you
Just how hard it is to make and keep a friend”
-- Joni Mitchell, “Jericho” (1974)
“What Friends Are For
For sharing.
For caring.
For giving.
Forgiving.
For walking.
For talking.
For waiting.
Relating.
For pleasing.
For teasing.
For finding.
Reminding.
For lending.
For mending.
For treating you fair.
But what matters most?
For just being there.”
I love this poem! It reads aloud so well, it has univerality. It’s meaningful to the everyday lives of children. I can imagine it being read aloud at a circle time accompanied by a discussion about friends. I’d want to point out to the older kids the poet’s clever use of “for giving” versus “forgiving,” and then discuss the concept of forgiveness.
From our first friends, onward, friendship can be one of life’s great joys. It can sometimes also lead to an emotionally traumatic experience. Through this great collection, Florian puts friendship complexities into simple terms.
“We Used to Be Friends”
We used to be friends.
But we drifted apart.
Don’t mesh anymore.
Don’t see heart-to-heart.
We used to be friends.
We drifted away.
Will we get back together?
Well, maybe someday.”
Among my favorites are one about keeping in touch with a friend who has moved away; one about becoming friends despite cultural differences; one with a clever twist-ending about an imaginary friend; and one about sleepovers. All the poems are appropriate for the elementary grades, with a bunch of them also being accessible to preschoolers.
Share this one with a friend.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“Anyone will tell you
Just how hard it is to make and keep a friend”
-- Joni Mitchell, “Jericho” (1974)
“What Friends Are For
For sharing.
For caring.
For giving.
Forgiving.
For walking.
For talking.
For waiting.
Relating.
For pleasing.
For teasing.
For finding.
Reminding.
For lending.
For mending.
For treating you fair.
But what matters most?
For just being there.”
I love this poem! It reads aloud so well, it has univerality. It’s meaningful to the everyday lives of children. I can imagine it being read aloud at a circle time accompanied by a discussion about friends. I’d want to point out to the older kids the poet’s clever use of “for giving” versus “forgiving,” and then discuss the concept of forgiveness.
From our first friends, onward, friendship can be one of life’s great joys. It can sometimes also lead to an emotionally traumatic experience. Through this great collection, Florian puts friendship complexities into simple terms.
“We Used to Be Friends”
We used to be friends.
But we drifted apart.
Don’t mesh anymore.
Don’t see heart-to-heart.
We used to be friends.
We drifted away.
Will we get back together?
Well, maybe someday.”
Among my favorites are one about keeping in touch with a friend who has moved away; one about becoming friends despite cultural differences; one with a clever twist-ending about an imaginary friend; and one about sleepovers. All the poems are appropriate for the elementary grades, with a bunch of them also being accessible to preschoolers.
Share this one with a friend.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
October 17, 2018
Veteran poet Florian turns his attention here to the ins and outs of friendships in twenty-five short poems. Many emphasize how to get along with peers and making friends, but some consider the flip side – losing friends or having foes. Several poems are meant to be read aloud by two different people. Some are just silly, like the two friends who are so close they share a pair of glasses, while others, such as, “You Lied to Me”, convey the hurt that can come with a friend’s betrayal. Florian (a prolific writer of children’s poetry books since 1980) writes with a sure hand. As usual, he also has illustrated his poems himself using a combination of collage, watercolor, and gouache. Children should find his illustrations comfortably childlike.
September 28, 2021
Genre: Poetry
Grade Level: K-2
This collection of poems showed many aspects of friendship and I think that could be very helpful for young students when finding out about their lives and their friends. I also loved the illustrations for this and they all seemed to be done with crayon. I bet students would like this because it is a similar style to theirs, so it would be great for them to see that in a published book. Overall, this was a nice collection of poetry, with good rhyme, and a good theme of friendship.
Grade Level: K-2
This collection of poems showed many aspects of friendship and I think that could be very helpful for young students when finding out about their lives and their friends. I also loved the illustrations for this and they all seemed to be done with crayon. I bet students would like this because it is a similar style to theirs, so it would be great for them to see that in a published book. Overall, this was a nice collection of poetry, with good rhyme, and a good theme of friendship.
April 20, 2019
Genre: poetry
Grades- 1-4
This poetry book has been one of my favorite! It is very relatable to children of various ages. It shows that we have friends and we also have people we do not get along with all the time. There is one Poem in the book that demonstrates the different ways to say friend in different languages which offers a diverse perspective. I highly suggest using this as a read aloud in your class.
Grades- 1-4
This poetry book has been one of my favorite! It is very relatable to children of various ages. It shows that we have friends and we also have people we do not get along with all the time. There is one Poem in the book that demonstrates the different ways to say friend in different languages which offers a diverse perspective. I highly suggest using this as a read aloud in your class.
September 4, 2018
Looking for poetry nominees. This is only so-so for me. Some nice poems, some passable. The illustrations are too juvenile for me, but sometimes kids like that (as in Hello, Goodbye Window). While the poetry isn't amazing, the themes of friendship and otherwise are ones that will resonate with children, especially those who may feel bad if they are different, or disagree with others.
January 14, 2019
This is a great book to expose children to poetry, but also help them navigate the intricacies of friendships -- friendships in all stages, from beginning (best friends) to middle (falling away friends) to the end (enemies). These poems help put all the varieties of friendships kids will inevitably experience into a perspective/outlet they can relate to.
July 18, 2018
Fun collection of poems about friendship. The illustrations are crayon and colored pencil on manila paper, giving the pictures as accessible a feel as the poems. Kids in grades 1-5 will love this book!
October 8, 2018
I am a huge Douglas Florian fan and this is another great addition to my collection. Great for SEL lessons, many poems for students to connect with. I love Florian's illustrations, such an inspiration for buddiing illustrators and artists.
April 22, 2019
Great poems, easily accessible for the target audience. I wish the illustrations were softer or at least a different color palette. I found the book a little hard on the eyes, but the poems more than made up for that.
January 9, 2018
Shows the many different sides of friendship, the good and the bad. What a lovely book.
October 1, 2018
A wide range of poems about the different aspects of friendship with Florian's unique folk-art style illustrations.
October 11, 2018
Cute poems about friendship and enemies. Some clever and funny, some sweet & truthful.
December 19, 2018
The more I read of children's poetry, the more I like it, especially when they connect in so many ways to feelings and experiences as these do.
Brightly illustrated, look like crayons.
Brightly illustrated, look like crayons.
May 1, 2019
The poems were ok but I didn’t really care for the art style.
September 18, 2019
Favorite poems from book are Strangers and How Do You Say Friend. Would read in Story Time.
March 28, 2020
A wonderful picture books about friends and foes. The illustrations are crayon drawings and were really cute. They fit the poems. There are about 4 two voice poems.
June 8, 2020
Over the last school year it was fun to start our library session by reading one poem from this. We all say friend or foe when it was done - *spoiler most of them are friend poems.
July 4, 2021
Read in Clear Lake Iowa on a break from a road trip, loved the first poem, liked the rest.
August 21, 2025
Delightful and fun.
November 30, 2019
Poetry
K-6th grade
This was such a great book! There are many fun poems in the book. There are also some that talk about really things friends may face like jealousy, or anger. The book does a nice job at addressing these issues in a more fun and positive way. I love all the different kinds of friendship poems that are in this book. I really enjoyed the crayon draw illustrations as well!
K-6th grade
This was such a great book! There are many fun poems in the book. There are also some that talk about really things friends may face like jealousy, or anger. The book does a nice job at addressing these issues in a more fun and positive way. I love all the different kinds of friendship poems that are in this book. I really enjoyed the crayon draw illustrations as well!
January 10, 2021
4 stars Great collection
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November 7, 2017An illustrated book of poems about friends and fiends.
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April 9, 2019The ups and downs of friendship are described in poetic verse in this appealing collection of 25 poems. In an engaging and humorous manner, the author describes a range of friendship struggles including deception, diversity, sharing, and jealousy. Other, more nuanced topics that are discussed with a sensitive flair include themes like imaginary friends, technology and friendships, and lost friendships. The collection of poems offers a comforting and fun-loving perspective to some of the most perplexing of friendship engagements. For instance, in the poem Give and Take, the reader is exposed to the inequalities found in relationships as is exposed in the following lines: “I gave you red rubies, blue sapphires, and gold. But you only sneezed and gave me your cold.” The crayon-etched illustrations perfectly punctuate the import behind the poems. Row boats separated by choppy waters and characters with woeful facial expressions are a good example of how an illustration can skillfully enrich the following poetry lines: “We used to be friends. We drifted away. Will we get back together some day”?
With the many different literary choices with which to examine the complicated world of friendships, this book offers a distinctive and unique alternative.
Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library:
https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/client/en_US/vpd/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:2694133/ada?qu=friends+and+foes+poems+about+us+all&lm=VPD
With the many different literary choices with which to examine the complicated world of friendships, this book offers a distinctive and unique alternative.
Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library:
https://catalog.swanlibraries.net/client/en_US/vpd/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:2694133/ada?qu=friends+and+foes+poems+about+us+all&lm=VPD
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews