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Two unlikely friends discover It Is Okay to have both common interests and differences.

It Is Okay by Ye Guo. Eerdmans, 2024. 40 pages.
- Reading Level: Picture books, ages 0-4
- Recommended For: Ages 0-4
Goat always has canned grass on toast for breakfast. But one day he runs out and must go to the supermarket. Then Goat meets Bunny, also on a quest for canned grass. The two bond over their shared love of this tinned specialty, “And just like that, they became friends.”
Guo’s quirky illustrations show the adventures of two very different individuals. Goat drinks his coffee without sugar and watches skeptically as Bunny loads sugar cubes into his coffee. But it is okay, and so are their different ways of exploring and coping with life.
Considerations: None.
Bottom Line: A sweet tribute to friendship and an assurance to young listeners that it is okay when our friends are not exactly like us.
Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader
- Reviews: More picture books about friendship: Giant (about C. S. Lewis and a childhood friend), The Peddler and the President (starred review; about Harry Truman), and My Best Friend by Julie Fogliano.
- Reviews: For slightly older readers, we loved Skunk and Badger, about two unlikely friends.
- Resource: Browse all our books tagged “friendship” for more stories about friends for all ages.
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