I liked reading this book to my son. We had a good discussion about friendships after reading the book. Overall, a good read!

I'm sure this is against the NetGalley law, but after this book was published, I checked it out from the library because I was unable to download it before it was archived. My oldest son loves art and started at a new school this year, so I had him in mind when requesting this book.

I'm sad to say that this one missed the mark for me. The book was about making friends, but most of the plot centered around brown pencil trying to figure out his talents. How do talents relate to making friends?

Also, the typeface chosen was boring and looked like it came straight out of Microsoft word. Kids are visual... come on!!

Lastly, the missing commas drove me nuts. "Making friends is a true art <COMMA MISSING> Brown." Ahhhhhh!! How does something like this make it past the editing stage and into a printed book?

The ending of the book was cute, however. I liked that brown was special because he was a mixture of all the other colors and that some life skills were sprinkled throughout.

2/5 stars

This is the second edition of this book. The original came out in 2012. Not having read it, I do not know what the changes were, but there are some clues in the book that the original could have been marginalizing to certain people. Overall this book is interesting. The brown crayon is trying to find his talents and what makes his special. Sometimes the book rhymes, sometimes it does not. Yes, that bothers me. It’s not a bad book, but not a favorite either.

In a world that encourages conformity, finding your unicity can be an art. This book teaches children just that. How to find your talent and set yourself apart from others, while also being friends with them. The brown pencil is trying to find what his talent is, so he goes from one colour to the other, asking them about it. They all praise him one way or another, but figuring out what makes him special is for Brown to find out. In the end, he discovers that just being yourself is enough.
At the end of the book, there are also tips for parents on teaching kids basic social skills.
Thank you to Net Galley and Boys Town Press for providing me with an e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Brown doesn't know what his unique quality is to be a great friend. All the other colours from the crayon box have a unique quality that makes them a great friend except him.

Brown asks all the other crayons how he can be a great friend and find out what his unique quality is. They help guide him to recognise his quality's and make new friends.

This is a really lovely book for children to help them understand about friendship, being kind and helpful and treating people kindly and understand the importance of friendship.

This is a revised edition of a book written and illustrated by the same duo, with an added content consultant. I have not read the first one, but I did read a few preview pages online. The illustrations still contain expressive images of the crayon characters. This title starts in a lesser melancholy way, and the positive story Is told in the first person voice of the Brown crayon. The crayon is friends with others, but is not sure about what talents they possess to be a good friend. There is an implied message of self-love for black and brown children which can be expanded in discussion or activities.. A book for family reading or one-on-one with a caring adult.
Thank you to the publisher and authors for an egalley of the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

THE ART OF MAKING FRIENDS by Julia Cook is a book I read before with my son to talk to him about the social skills required to be a good friend. But in this latest revision, the author tightened up the story and made it more about recognizing the talents you already have to be a good friend than portraying the brown pencil as lonely and needing to change himself to be like someone else. Because it uses the familiar tool of a colored pencil, it is easily relatable to a child. I love this story. While teaching about friendship, it also covers feelings, and social skills. Julie Cook always writes books my family counts on to reinforce things taught at home – this book is no exception and I’m very happy about the revision. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Brown, a pencil in a pencil box, realizes he is the least used of all the colours. He hardly ever gets sharpened and is not asked to join in the fun when the others gather together to colour and play. This makes him feel rejected, ostracized and lonely. Why is he not accepted by the others?

He surveys all the pencils around him and discovers that they all have specific talents that they share with each other.

"Black looks out for everyone
Yellow always does what's right.
Purple has hopes and dreams,
And White won't let us fight."

"Dark Green is very trustworthy.
Pink listens to everyone.
Light Green is always honest.
And Orange likes to have fun."

The colours blend their gifts together resulting in a happy, friendly community. " Woke" Brown goes on a mission to find out what his friendship talent is so he too can contribute to the box thus bringing happiness to the others.

He goes from pencil to pencil asking their honest advice. Green tells him:

"Friendship is one of the most precious gifts there is Brown. To have good friends, you need to know how to be a good friend."

Will Brown discover how unique he is by being himself? This might enable him to reach out to others giving them smiles and helping them in their needs?

This heartwarming rhyming book teaches kids of all ages that friendships and getting along with others are very important life lessons to learn. This title is the first in the Building Relationships series. Wisely the author has included tips for parents, caregivers and teachers on how to help children who feel left out and are having trouble making friends. I recommend this book.

I received this book from netgalley for my honest review. I believe the concept of this book is great. It will teach little one about making friends, but the book is a bit different.

"To have good friends, you need to know how to be a good friend.”

A cute and simple picture book that teaches young readers and listeners that we ALL have something of worth to offer in friendship. This little book also shows the importance of making and keeping friends. It reminds us to be our best selves.

As a parent I am also appreciative of the tips at the end to help my children development healthy and lasting friendships.


I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
.

I am not able to properly review this book, as it did not download properly. Emails regarding the issue were not returned. What I did see did not impress me. The drawings were amateurish and the content was unoriginal.

I was offered the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
As an early childhood educator, for nearly 20 years, I can see many things in this story that would be appealing to the younger child.
This story has a great premise of teaching about differences and how we can all complement each other. This teaches the crayons to look at their own talents and see how they contribute positively.
My only question is if the choice of brown was purposeful? I can see some finding this potentially an offensive choice as brown feels an “outcast” at times .
Illustrations are very sweet

This is an adorable, both in illustrations and words, picture book that discusses friendship and being special. I really liked the way this explored how to find the positive in yourself and to share that with others. This would be a great beginning-of-the-year book to share with students to encourage them to be nice to others and celebrate differences. I will be purchasing for my elementary library.

Making Friends is an Art is an engaging picture book. Second grade students would enjoy the bright and colorful illustrations, but this book would be an excellent book to begin reading to students when they first enter school. It addresses the uniqueness found in each individual, and how everyone has gifts they can share with others. Making Friends is an Art is also a great book for helping kids see that being different is what makes us all special.

Brown wants to be a good friend, but he doesn't believe he has any talents for friendship. He talks to all of his friends about how to become a better friend. This is a very cute book to teach young kids about what it means to be a great friend. I absolutely loved that the main characters are colored pencils and the illustrations were created with colored pictures.

This is a sweet book about friendship. Each crayon has special qualities but brown can’t figure out his. He goes to talk to the other crayons to try to find out how he can be a good friend, It’s a nice book about being yourself and friendship.