Customer Reviews

The Friendly Book (Big Little Golden Book)

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The Friendly Book is the reprint of a "Big Little Golden Book" classic written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams. Of special note is the way the alliterative, repetitive, and entertaining text of The Friendly Book is so useful in helping children ages 2 to 5 to simultaneously built vocabulary and reading skills. Also very highly recommended are two other newly reprinted Gold Books classics: K. & B. Jackson and Gustaf Tenggren's The Saggy Baggy Elephant (0375-825908, ...) and Tibor Gergely's The Great Big Fire Engine (0307103218,...).

I LOVED this book as a child. The pictures by Garth Williams are so lovingly rendered. I can recall each image with amazing detail (obviously I poured over this book often!).

Since it's been out of print, I would search used book stores - pawing through their inevitable stack of old Golden Books. I found one several years ago in college that I promptly sent to my then toddler sister. I continued to look for another copy to keep for my own children someday. Alas, to no avail.

Last year a treasury of Garth Williams illustrated books was released, and I promptly bought a copy for my 1-year old daughter. I'm thrilled that the original book has been re-released - better for small hands. I strongly recommend this book for young children (birth & up). You will not be disappointed!

Kids even as young as first grade, can use this as a model for writing their OWN book. I LIKE....is the bones, and the lists and loosely rhymed examples are the flesh. And no matter whether a kid wants to write about cars or cuttlefish, they ought to end up with I LIKE PEOPLE...to keep the friendly book pattern intact.

I don't know if Garth Williams re-drew his illustrations for this reprint, but the cover is obviously different from the original. The line quality is much spikier, the characters' facial expressions are more cartoony, and details have been changed, such as the removal of the little toy car at the bottom center which used to be part of the image. The changes are easy to see if you compare to the picture of the 1980's reprint posted by William G. Elliott.

If publishers are going to change illustrations, they should call the book a "reinterpretation" or "revised version", rather than a "reprint", which implies that there have been no changes. The different cover makes me wonder what else has been changed in this version of the book. Maybe the inside pictures and text are all the same, but it's impossible to tell from the book's Amazon page.

As a child, this was one of my favorite books. I loved Margaret Wise Brown's simple singsong verse and Garth Williams' gentle, amusing illustrations. Over half a century and it stands the test of time and toddler. As a library assistant I just read it at storytime and all the little wigglers were kept at attention. As a grandmother I'd like to get new copies for all the new little people in my life. Alas, it's out of print. I'll order the used ones, but let's bring back this classic.

I am an overseas customer. I have no problem with the products I have purchased from Amazon, but I do have a problem with the shipping policy. I very seldom buy from Amazon because by the time the product reaches me the total price (item and postage) can be 3 or 4 times the original item price. This is stupid!!! Time is usually not a factor in receiving the goods but shipping at 3 times the price of the goods is!!! My latest purchase of a rare book was, item cost US$11.96 shipping US$24.98. By the time this goes into the exchange rate my total cost was about $56, It's about time you gave customers the option to use standard surface or low cost standard mail. The shipping cost is why I only rarely buy from Amazon. I can get better value elsewhere.