Friends

＂Van Hout expertly conveys the emotional peaks and valleys of each friendship; the monster’s eyes and expressions speak volumes.＂ -- Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

Award-winning author-illustrator Mies Van Hout celebrates the fun (and sometimes bumpy) stages of friendship as monster friends play, fight, and reconcile.

Set against Mies van Hout’s iconic black backgrounds and utilizing the same vibrant pastel style of the internationally bestselling Happy, each spread of Friends shows a pair of childlike monsters portraying a single verb, from play to tease to fight, reconcile, and cuddle.

This critically acclaimed picture book is both a beautiful art book and a valuable tool for social-emotional learning. Carefully crafted ＂monster＂ characters express an emotional depth that is visually stunning and relatable to children and adults alike.

This new, high-value edition of Friends features extra-heavy pages that, like the truest friendship, will stand the test of time and repeated readings.

＂Like the earlier Happy, this conveys emotional heft and arresting images in an appealing, child-size package.＂ -- Kirkus Reviews

Mies van Hout is the author and illustrator of the picture books Happy, Friends, Surprise, From One to Ten, and This Is My Daddy, among others, which have been hugely popular in Europe and North America. She studied graphic design at the Arts Academy in Groningen, the Netherlands, and has worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer since 1989. Her distinctive paintings are cheerful and bold, and her work has been published in more than twenty countries.