Picture Books about Friendship for Preschoolers

Fill your shelves with a wonderful collection of picture books about friendship and friends. They’re great all year long.

I love books, and I love snuggling on the couch with little ones and reading to them. I’m all for letting them choose books based on their interests and books that teach beginning academics like ABCs and 123s.

I love, even more, books that offer an opportunity to teach preschoolers about the world around them.

These books about friendship are a great introduction to social skills, bullies, good choices/bad choices, and what makes a good friend.

All of these topics are wrapped up in picture books with fun characters and brilliant pictures. Enjoy!

Books About Friendship

Below, I’ve featured just a handful of picture books that will help your preschoolers learn what it means to be a good friend.

You should be able to find them at your local library or bookstore. If you can’t find them locally, you can click each image cover to purchase them on Amazon.

A Splendid Friend, Indeed | Bear wants to read and write and think. Goose wants to talk and talk and talk. Can Bear and Goose be friends?

Little Quack’s New Friend | One day when Little Quack is playing in the pond, he hears the strangest noise in the distance. He listens closely along with his siblings, Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, and Puddle, only to find that it’s a frog in their pond. The other ducklings aren’t so sure about taking this new guy under their wings, but Little Quack is determined to make a new friend, no matter how different he may be!

Best Friends for Frances | Frances doesn’t think her little sister, Gloria, can be her friend. But when Frances’s friend Albert has a no-girls baseball game, Frances shows him a thing or two about friendship—and a thing or two about what girls can do. Along the way, Frances discovers that sisters can indeed be friends . . . maybe even best friends.

A Rainbow of Friend s | This book is for ages 3-5. Friends come in all colours and sizes; they can be funny or serious, musical or athletic, outgoing or quiet. This book reminds children to celebrate their differences because that is what makes each of us so special.

You Are Friendly | Children want to make friends and be friendly. This affirming book from Maren Green Publishing lets children know they have real skills and competencies and helps them build important social skills. Sharing, saying “please” and “thank you,” inviting others to join in and play, treating people and animals kindly, and offering to help are all ways to win friends.

Hunter’s Best Friend at School | Hunter and Stripe are best friends. This young raccoon pair loves to do everything together, like dress in striped sweaters, read the same stories, and even eat the same lunch — a crawfish sandwich, huckleberries, and milk. But when Stripe arrives one day at school in a mischief-making mood and starts stirring up trouble in Mr. Ringtail’s class, should Hunter follow along?

My Friends | Using simple words and bright illustrations, author-illustrator Taro Gomi shows children that sometimes knowledge can come from all kinds of friends.

Will I Have a Friend? | When Pa was taking Jim to school for the first time, Jim said, “Will I have a friend at school?” “I think you will,” said Pa. But even his father’s gentle reassurance doesn’t make Jim feel any better. The other children in kindergarten are scary strangers to him. He’s sure that he’ll never find a friend…until naptime, when he discovers someone who feels the way he does.

Matthew and Tilly | Like all good friends, Matthew and Tilly have an occasional tiff, but their friendship prevails despite their differences.

Just My Friend and Me | The very popular Little Critter has a friend over to play and tries his best to be a good host. It’s a long afternoon. After his friend damages Little Critter’s bike by accident, leaves him in the tree house without a ladder, and doesn’t help clean up his room, Little Critter decides that playing alone isn’t always bad.

We Are Best Friends | When his best friend Peter moves away, Robert has no one to play with, no one to fight with, and no fun at all. Then he meets Will — and finds he’s not the only one who needs a new best friend.

How to Be a Friend | Find out: * who can be your friend * how to show someone you would like to be friends * how to handle bosses and bullies * the best ways to be a friend and ways not to be a friend * ways to settle an argument with a friend.

Do You Want to Be My Friend? | Do you want to be my friend?” asks a little mouse of a horse, a peacock, an alligator, and others in this charming story.

Friends | When a best friend moves away, it can be painful for the child who is left behind. But the spunky boy in this upbeat story makes up his mind to find his missing playmate. Young readers will cheer on the boy as he braves currents, climbs mountains, and dashes through rain before, finally, reuniting with his friend.

How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends? | Time and time again, children are told to “play nice.” This brilliantly illustrated board book is packed with rhymes that will teach children how.

How to Be a Friend | In How To Be A Friend: A Book About Friendship … Just for Me! introduces children to those values that make for good friendships-loyalty, trust, and honesty-and to how they can become a good friend to others.

Frog and Toad Are Friends | From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.

Friends | Charlie Rooster, Johnny Mouse, and Percy the pig are the best of friends. They do everything together. They ride their bike together, play games together, and even do their chores together. Because that’s what good friends do. When night falls, though, and it’s time to go to bed, they learn that sometimes friends have to be apart. But that’s okay, because true friends always find each other, even if it’s just in their dreams.