Just My Friend and Me

Little Critter

by Mercer Mayer

Little Critter is inviting his best friend over to play in this classic, funny, and heartwarming book. Whether these buddies are climbing trees, playing basketball, or riding bikes, both parents and children alike will relate to this beloved story. A perfect way to teach children about being a good friend!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Friendship, Fiction, Animals, Humor, Own

24 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2001

About the author

Mercer Mayer is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his Little Critter and Little Monster series of books.

Reviews

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercer Mayer, Just My Friend and Me (Golden Press, 1988)

This entry in the seemingly-neverending Little Critter series tackles some tough issues in a way that makes me want to see what Mayer would do with this material given the space for a young adult novel. Critter has a friend over to play, and the friend turns out to be not terribly friendlike (though whether the kid is malicious or just a complete solipsist is left up to the reader's interpretation, and ends up being a very interesting question to wrestle with once the kiddies are old enough to think to ask it). Critter, as is his wont, tries to overlook the other child's faults or make the best of bad situations until he finally can't take anymore. I usually class the Critter books as either comedy or fantasy in the database, but this one is drama all the way. A real surprise here, and one of the best of the Little Critter books we've read so far. *** ½

[Marjorie Estavillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading all the books in the Little Critter Series by Mercer Mayer’s! I feel that all these books deal with issues that are relatable to young children. In the book Just My Friend And Me, the little critter is super excited to have his friend come over and spend the day with him. They have a blast doing different activities throughout the day, playing baseball, jumping rope, and climbing trees. A few bumps and bruises later they are beat and it is time for his friend to go home. After his friend goes home he realizes that he loves being with his friends but alone time is always good. I remember that feeling of excitement planning an entire day with my friend! These books always have cute stories and fun illustrations! I enjoyed reading this book time and time again! I would highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys children’s books.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

They're short, they're funny, they're topical, and they're cheap.

This book details a typical visit with a friend, and the havoc two children can wreak.

Little Critter puts it that he always has fun with his friend, but by the end of the day he's glad to be alone, a true sentiment if I ever heard one.

One thing to note is how the illustrations and the text don't always add up, a good introduction to the concept of an unreliable narrator :)

[Molly Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved the little critter books. Children love to read them so as a teacher I would love to integrate this into a reading/writing and/or math lesson. It focuses on ordinal numbers so this would be great practice for the young ones counting. There is great reinforcement of the importance of sharing throughout this book as well so you could incorporate character building into the lesson and have the students give you feedback, or they could write about it.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercer Mayer does a fabulous job with his Little Critter books. My 3 year old granddaughter and I always enjoy them. Some of them (like this one) is basic but not to basic that it doesn't tell a story. And the illustrations are wonderful that goes with the story. This one is about friendships and all the things you do together with your friend. But at the end of the day you know it's okay to be by yourself sometimes too.

[Sa Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the story, Little Critter invites friend over to play. He wants to build a good relationship between him and his friend, so he shares his time and toys with his friend. He likes to spend his time with his friends but sometimes it is great just to be all alone.
A message that I inferred from the story is that good friendships can help them advance in their academic ability and overcome these hardships in life.

[Gala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This critter does not like doing anything by himself but who does. He enjoys his friend coming over to spend the day with him.His friend may be a little more advance than he is but he keeps a positive attitude.This is such a cute story. When the critter's friend gets hurt he is more concerned about his bike.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Critter has a friend over to play and soon discovers that sometimes playing alone is not so bad. His friend breaks his bike on accident, leaves him in the tree house without a ladder to get down and then doesn’t help him clean up his room before he leaves.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good story about friends learning how to play together. It also promotes playing outdoors and reading comic books. At the end of the play day we also learn that it is sometimes ok to be alone.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this cute children's book, Little Critter has his friend over to play. Little critter soon realizes that when you have a guest over, you have to defer to them somewhat and sees his friend as taking advantage of being the guest.

[Gregory Mckinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book 5 stars because I think I like that book he had good friend only play basketball, baseball, and everything that so much fun he want challenge him for jump rope that contest that why I reason I love that story.

[Jennifer Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend is a great thing to have. This book talks about all the things you can do with your friend. I relate so much to the ending, it is nice to have a friend and hang out with your friend, but it is so very nice to be alone as well.

[Tammy King Carlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebekah was having a hard time playing nicely with friends, and this book actually helped her to understand that playdates aren't perfect, but we still like them and need them.

[Darrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was younger I absolutely adored these tales. Use this book when friends or students have trouble getting along to show them how this one little guy worked out his issue with his friends.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

LC plays with his friend, touching on topics like competition, responsibility for other's things, and time to yourself. Cute as always.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really care for Little Critter's friend.

[Sami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea why this book has so many positive ratings. Critter’s friend is a bully and has no respect for others. It doesn’t showcase a friendship on different age levels, it showcases an unhealthy relationship between 2 kids.
The friend climbs the tree and doesn’t care that Critter can’t. The friend calls critter a mean name (babies) and takes away the ladder while Critter was using it. They played hide-and-seek, but the friend doesn’t find Critter, instead leaves him in hiding. The friend breaks Critter’s toys, because they aren’t his toy so who cares? They play basketball, but the friend isn’t playing fair. He plays baseball but only wants Critter to fetch the ball and they do not take turns batting. They swing on the swing, breaking it, probably because the friend doesn’t care and is reckless. He becomes reckless with Critter’s bike and broke it. He then makes a big deal of it to Critter’s mom when he gets hurt on the bike. This makes the mom feel like critter was at fault. His friend makes a mess of Critter’s room and only wants to clean up the easy stuff. By the time his friend leaves he is physically and mentally burned out. The whole time Critter is trying to rationalize his friend’s poor behavior. I would’ve rated it 1 star, but gave it 2 because this book is a good example on unhealthy friendships to teach your kids.

[Ashley Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Just My Friend and Me” by Mercer Mayer is about two friends who play with each other, and sometimes the friendship can get a little competitive. This book shows the two friends doing different activities, but there is an underlying tone that shows how one friend may have more advanced abilities in doing what they are playing for. This book describes how friends can be having fun, and things may break or get messy, but they are still there for each other. It also shows the difference in how friends can act towards an object, or emotionally. As long as there is support between each other and can be civil towards each other, it is okay to have differences when it comes to friends. Moebius describes in “Introduction to PictureBook Codes” the interesting concept of how “what the front and back pages say is often mutually complementary, symmetrical even”. This is a great example for this book because the first page describes how the main character wants to ask his mom for a friend over because he doesn’t want to be alone. On the last page, he says that it is great to be alone sometimes. This is a great example of the first and last page connecting because it comes to the conclusion that it’s great to have a friend, but it’s also okay to be alone sometimes.

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the picture books I have read always had some type of adventure or learning lesson that came out of it. What about a book that should solely be on childhood? That book would have to be, Just My Friend and Me, by Mercer Mayer. The picture book is illustrated to depict a child and his friend having a playdate. They have fun playing all sorts of games together; ranging from tree climbing to cleaning up their mess. The secondary reading I'm tying this book to is, "Innocence" by Marah Gubar. The main discrepancy throughout that whole passage is how innocence has slowly converted from this pure image to sexualizing the word "innocence." However, there is this one idea that is brought up for a moment, that tells the readers and the audience, that we shouldn't rush children into growing up and turning into adults. We should instead let them have their fun and preserve this alluring alterity. Of course it also states that children are vulnerable and should depend on adult for guidance. Although, this book simply shows what society's view on childhood nowadays. The children are having fun, getting hurt by being rambunctious, then learning a valuable lesson at the end of the day. What this adds to the concept of friendship is how sometimes our friendships don't need that much thinking into it. Friends can simply be defined as people whom we have fun with.

[Matrie Harmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains relatable experiences and emotions for children, like friendship, sharing, and dealing with misunderstandings. The book is infused with humor, often derived from the contrast of Little Critter's narrative and the reality shown through the illustrations. The illustrations are rich in detail.

[Kylie Pickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy asked his mom if he could have a friend over because he didn't want to play alone. They climbed trees, played baseball, and rode bikes, but his friend was not very nice to him. This book would be great for younger students to show them what a friendship should and shouldn't look like.

[Emily Knickerbocker]

This book is about all the things you can do with your friend how he lets his friend win and how they have to be careful because they can get hurt, in the end, he understands the importance of alone time. I would have my students write a summary of the book.

[Elizabeth Boih · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listen this from YouTube read a loud. I really enjoy that the reader also uses the animal voice. I think having students listen to this read-sound will bring more comfort or
Comedy while helping them relate to the relationship they might have with their friends.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Children's Picture Book - Fiction

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh, okay, lacking

[Melissa Namba · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute book that shows kids that sometimes friends aren't the best, but you still play nice. And that it can be awesome to spend time alone too!

[Rose | Belletrist Anarchist · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book honestly made me pretty sad. His friend is basically an asshole. Poor Little Critter. Lesson? That spending time alone is actually pretty damn nice.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are fun books to read again and again because you can always find something new in the pictures. It provided places to talk about how to play safely too.

[Chappyfamily · Rating 3 out of 5]

How not to treat a friend

[Catarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are quick reads, but Little Critters friend is no friend I want around.