May I Bring a Friend? - Hardcover

De Regniers, Beatrice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689206151 ISBN 13: 9780689206153

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1971

Synopsis

An imaginative boy brings a surprising array of friends to dine at the palace in this Caldecott Medal–winning picture book.

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.

About this title

Review:

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 the boy as 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, an elephant, and once even a pride of lions into their elegant home. Beatrice Schenk De Regniers'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 wild animals wreaking harmless havoc in the palace, and soothed by the unfalteringly open arms and perpetual politesse of the King and Queen. Beni Montresor's distinctive, inky, richly colored drawings earned this book a Caldecott Medal in 1965, and have won the hearts of children ever since. (Ages 3 and older) --Karin Snelson

About the Author:

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers is the author of many award-winning books for children, among them May I Bring a Friend?, illustrated by Beni Montresor and winner of the Caldecott Medal; David and Goliath; A Little House of Your Own; Little Sister and the Month Brothers; The Snow Party; and So Many Cats. Formerly a children's book editor, Ms. de Regniers now writes full time. She lives in Washington, DC.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1971
• ISBN 10: 0689206151
• ISBN 13: 9780689206153
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Montresor Beni