From an acclaimed team comes this empathetic and reassuring picture book about the loaded question that every “new kid” or socially anxious child dreads, “Did you make any new friends today?”

MAKE NEW FRIENDS
by Joshua David Stein
illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio
Abrams, September 2025

Tomasso doesn’t know anyone at his new school and has no one to play with at recess. So, knowing his dad will ask, he resolves to make a few new friends. Each day his crew grows; there’s Roland (a foam ball), Coco (a milk carton), and Karen (a very pink eraser). But when his dad insists on having his friends over for pizza, Tomasso knows that soon his secret will be out. Will his dad welcome his new friends, even if they’re not who he expects?

Written for any child who struggles with making friends or social anxiety, and featuring warm, witty illustrations, Make New Friends is both silly and sincere, inviting kids to trust the unconditional love and acceptance of a parent.

Joshua David Stein is an author, editor, and musician. He is a professional restaurant critic and coauthor of several cookbooks and chef’s memoirs as well as many children’s books, including Can I Eat That?; Brick: Who Found Herself in Architecture; The Ball Book; The Invisible Alphabet; Solitary Animals: Introverts of the Wild; and Lunch from Home. He is the founder of The Band Books, a band that performs children’s books to music. Stein lives in Brooklyn with his two sons, Achilles and Augustus, and a doggie, Hermione.

Mariachiara Di Giorgio is an illustrator, storyboard artist, and concept designer. She is the illustrator behind two wordless picture books, Professional Crocodile with writer Giovanna Zoboli and the acclaimed The Midnight Fair with writer Gideon Sterer. Her work has been exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and with the New York Society of Illustrators. She lives in Rome, Italy.