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Buddy Bench, The

Having seen what being left out is like, children become agents of change, convincing their teacher to let them build a buddy bench.

A school playground can be a solitary place for a kid without playmates; in one survey, 80 percent of 8- to 10-year-old respondents described being lonely at some point during a school day.

Patty Brozo’s cast of kids brings a playground to raucous life, and Mike Deas’s illustrations invest their games with imaginary planes to fly, dragons to tame, and elephants to ride. And these kids match their imaginations with empathy, identifying and swooping up the lonely among them.

Buddy benches are appearing in schoolyards around the country. Introduced from Germany in 2014, the concept is simple: When a child sits on the bench, it’s a signal to other kids to ask him or her to play.
PATTY BROZO (Green Valley, AZ and Traverse City, MI) has been writing stories for and about children since taking creative writing classes in college. She is the author of Miss Pinkeltink’s Purse and The Buddy Bench.

MIKE DEAS (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia) got his flair for illustrative storytelling from an early love of reading and drawing. He fine-tuned his drawing skills and imagination at Capilano College’s Commercial Animation Program in Vancouver, then work as a concept artist, texture artist, and art lead in the video game industry took him to England and California before he returned to with his family to sunny Salt Spring Island.
“Lively and colorful, a must-have addition to school and public libraries. It promotes kindness and inclusion.” - School Library Journal

“Kids who recognize themselves in the playground scenario may well take the sentiment to heart.” - Publishers Weekly

“A story inspired by a real-life effort to achieve social inclusion. The generosity on display is heartening. Inviting.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Miss Mellon’s class is eager for recess, but on the playground, some children are left out. “Molly said to Brianne, ‘Let’s play follow the leader.’ They walked right by Emma but just didn’t see her,” writes Brozo. But kind individuals do notice their peers watching from the sidelines, and after a number of kids express anxieties (ranging from being new to having holey clothes), the students decide to make a “Buddy Bench,” where classmates can sit to let others know that they want to make friends. Deas illustrates inky figures energetically engaged in playground activities, along with fantasy play characters (a pink dinosaur, a blue elephant). The students’ self-guided innovation is idealistic, but kids who recognize themselves in the playground scenario may well take the sentiment to heart. Back matter offers context about the growth of buddy benches around the world. Ages 5–10. (Aug.)” - PW