True Friends

by Carol Liu, Beth Ciangiulli, Mark Minnig (Illustrator)

One sunny Saturday, an encounter with ants on the playground sparks an exploration of friendship by five playmates. The children discover that true friendship is big, broad, and strong. It can hold together a wide range of feelings and all kinds of differences. Like all Newbury Heights Club books, True Friends tells its story through characters who have special needs. Its aim is to increase understanding and awareness of childhood disabilities, to teach social strategies, and to foster social interactions across perceived boundaries of difference.

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2009

About the author

I grew up in Rhode Island, enjoying coffee milk and ignoring R's in words -- until I met Marybeth, a New Yorker who was studying to be a speech therapist at the University of Rhode Island. Marybeth first fixed my speech, and then we became best friends. We wrote "Arlene on the Scene" to help find a cure for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, which affects both Marybeth and her daughter, Grace. Proceeds from this book will be donated to the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation to fund CMT research, develop new treatments, and hopefully find a cure.