May I Bring a Friend?

SLIS 5420- Module 3



May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (illustrated by Beni Montresor)


Bibliography:


De Regniers, Beatrice Schnek. May I Bring a Friend? Aladdin Books, Macmillan Publishing Company. 1968.


Summary:

May I Bring a Friend? is a charming tale of a King and Queen who continually ask a young boy to spend time at their palace, only to find that the boy each time requests to bring a friend. The King and Queen oblige and are each time surprised at the "friend" who accompanies their guest. When invited to tea, the boy brings a giraffe. A hippopotamus accompanies him to lunch, monkeys to dinner, and the list grows in both size and number. The boy eventually invites the King and Queen to join him and his friends for tea, and they find themselves at the zoo. The story is told in short, simple rhyme and predictable text that makes it easy for children to join in reading aloud. The pictures are detailed and utilize an interesting color palate, from muted greens to mustard yellow, pink, black, and white. Illustrations add to the intrigue of the story and paint a lavish picture of happenings in the palace during these visits.


Thoughts:

Its simple layout and text makes this story an easy but entertaining read for young children. I love that, though the rhyme is predictable, there remains an air of mystery as the reader waits to discover what animal could possibly join the boy in his trip to the palace. The illustrations give a hint toward the time period captured in the book, with its detail, colors, and alternating between color and black and white.

I found this to be a charming story, and could not help but turn the pages faster to discover what ruckus might occur, wondering if the King and Queen would ever get angry, and how the animals would interact in the end. Though written long ago, this story is just as relevant and appealing today as it was when originally published.


Reviews:

Winner of the Caldecott Medal

"One day, a small boy receives a very special invitation -- the King and the Queen have invited him to the castle for tea. He accepts, with one question: "May I bring a friend?"

'Any friend of our friend is welcome here!' says the King. But their guest's friend turns out to be someone they never expected!

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers's rhythmic text and the fantastical, jewellike artwork of Beni Montresor have made this book a favorite for more than twenty-five years."- Simon & Schuster

"The King and Queen are most gracious hosts to a certain little boy- and any friend of his is a friend of theirs. When he brings a giraffe to tea, the King doesn't blink an eye and says, 'Hello. How do you do?' and the Queen merely exclaims, 'Well! Fancy meeting you!' The royal pair continue to invite their guest for tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner, apple pie, and Halloween, and each time he politely asks if he can bring a friend, waits for their assent, then brings a hippo, monkeys, and elephant, and once even a pride of lions into their elegant home. Beatrice Schenk de Regnier's gentle, repetitive, rhyming story, with the refrain, 'So I brought my friend,' will resonate with young children, who will be pleased to see the well-behaved animals wreaking harmless havoc in the palace, and soothed by the unfalteringly open arms and perpetual politeness of the King and Queen. Beni Montesor's distinctive, inky, richly colored drawings earned this book a Caldecott Medal in 1965, and have won the hearts of children ever since." - Karin Snelson, Amazon.com

Ideas for Use:

Young children may have never been exposed to the idea of a tea party, and this story provides the perfect background for such an occurrence. After the initial reading of the book, allow the students to bring with them a stuffed animal to school that they would like to invite to their tea party. Host a "tea party" for the students and their "friends" in the library the following week in a manner that suits the students (drinks and snacks if allowed, if not, imaginary food can be acted out) while re-reading the story with the help of the children's predictive rhyming.


A variation of this activity is to brainstorm as a group what animal "friends" the students would like to invite to a tea party, if they were King or Queen. Go over with students the definition and format of an invitation. Provide paper, markers, colored pencils, etc. for the students to create their own invitations for the "friends" they wish to invite. These invitations can be put in the "mail" by wrapping a shoebox and decorating it to look like a mailbox.