My Friend Amy

Anna McQuinn - I LOVED this one. Want to know why? Because with a daughter adopted from China - I love anything that helps people to see how much the same we all really are - even though we have some fun cultural differences. That is exactly what this book does - geared to younger children. One of my favorites in this box!
BookBlog

In this large, colorful book, a Nigerian second-grader tells the story of her best friend from school, who is Chinese. The girls share a love of arts and crafts, dressing up, and a desire to become veterinarians. Monifa describes aspects of Amy's culture: eating with chopsticks, the giving of red envelopes, Chinese coins, and the Dragon Dance, which both children perform for Chinese New Year. The story's authentic voice comes from simple declarative sentences: "Amy and I even have the same favorite colour—it's purple."

The brightly colored collages combine photographs of the girls' heads and hands with their cartoon bodies and depict them as they work with clay in arts and crafts at school or walk through an outdoor market with Amy's grandma, "Por Por."
Teresa Pfeifer, School Library Journal

Monifa and Amy are two young girls from different backgrounds who have become best friends. Although both were born in this country, Monifa explains how they come to appreciate aspects of their distinctive West African and Chinese cultural heritages, from the meaning of their names, to the special foods and family traditions they learn about. Using the same successful format of 'My Friend Jamal', photographs are combined with colourful collage and panels of text to give a feeling of warmth and authenticity to the cross-cultural friendship which is described.
The Willsden Bookshop

This is essentially a story of friendship. Amy and Monifa are best friends since their first day at school; they both love art, dressing up and animals. One is Chinese and one West African, and ethnicity is explored without dominating this portrayal of friendship. By emphasising the common interests that the two girls enjoy together, cultural differences can be observed without being the only story, and on this basis the book succeeds.

The images are a colourful mix of photographs, loose sketching and digital collage, from this young Canadian illustrator.
Bookfest Ireland 2009

Amy and Monifa, Jamal and Joseph were all born in the UK – but Amy is Chinese and Jamal is Somali. They have similarities and differences. They are best friends.

Superb explorations of friendship across cultures. Enchanting!
Letterbox Library