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May I Bring a Friend?

Author	Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
Illustrator	Beni Montresor
Genre	Children's picture book
Publisher	Atheneum Books
Publication date	1964
Publication place	United States
ISBN	0-689-71353-3
OCLC	20016033
Dewey Decimal	[E] 20
LC Class	PZ8.3.D443 May 1989

May I Bring A Friend?

May I Bring A Friend is a 1964 book written by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and illustrated by Beni Montresor. The story of a well mannered boy who frequently gets invited to visit the king and queen. The first time he goes, he asks if he can bring a friend the next time he visits. When they say yes, he always brings different types of exotic animals who the king and queen welcome with open arms. The illustrator, Sir Beni Montresor, won the Caldecott Medal for this book for his jewel-like illustrations.[1]

Plot Summary

Normally when people get invited to functions and dinners, usually unless told, they won't invite a plus one. Not this main character. This little boy is introduced as a friend of a king and queen who is invited many times to their home for teas and dinner and with every invitation, the boy asks simply and kindly can he bring a friend. The king and queen always accepted his friend (not knowing what to expect.) Surely they would assume it would be a boy or a girl, but that is not the case. The little boy starts out by inviting his friend- a giraffe; no not a stuffed one, but an actual one on a leash. The king and queen didn't seem to blink twice about the friend that stood above them because they welcomed the boy and his friend with open arms. They all sat down and drank tea that afternoon like everything was normal. As the reader, probably thinking after that odd afternoon, that would be the end of the invitations, but no the king and queen must've loved this boy something serious because they invited him several more times with each time, the well mannered boy asked the infamous question "may I bring a friend?" and with each time, the king and queen accepted his friend. That included a hippo that ate all the food, a bunch of monkeys that caused chaos an elephant, and even some lions, and they opened their door each time happily to see the boy and friend. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ajsamuels (talk • contribs) 06:52, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

About The Author

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (August 16, 1914—March 1, 2000) was an American writer of children's picture books. Beatrice Schenk de Regniers was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and studied social work administration at the University of Chicago, earning her M.Ed. in 1941. During the 1940s she worked in the US and in a Yugoslav refugee camp on the Sinai peninsula.[1] During the 1950s she was a free-lance writer of nonfiction, humor, short stories, and columns, as well as children's books. Her first book was The Giant Story, a picture book illustrated by Maurice Sendak, published by Harper in 1953.[1] From 1961 she worked at Scholastic, Inc. as the founding editor of its "Lucky Book Club", four days weekly with Monday reserved for her own writing. She retired twenty years later.[1]She wrote over fifty books, ten of which were published under the pseudonym of Tamara Kitt, including The Adventures of Silly Billy (1961) and The Boy Who Fooled the Giant (1963).[2] Illustrator Beni Montresor won the annual Caldecott Medal for May I Bring a Friend?, published by Atheneum Books in 1964.[3]

Critical Reception

May I Bring a Friend? is a great picture book made for all ages who enjoy a laugh and a surprise. According to Richelle Villabona, a writer for her blog A Place To Call Your Home, the young boy brings light to a time of well-mannered and behaved children with entertaining friends. The cover of the book leaves a clue for the readers to guess what kind of friends this young boy has. The book is written with pattern and movement that readers continue to flip the pages to meet the friend’s of this boy and the reactions of the king and queen. The website Kurkus states "The simple verses have a real swing and their high good humor is captured with startling colors in the well known style of Beni Montresor. Good fun, good looking and with a practical use, too -- a devilish drill for the sequence of days in a week, still a must for matriculating kindergarten students."

References

Goodreads