As we move forward into summer, the GROGers are going on a summer break until mid-August. We hope you take time to rest, refresh, and find new leafy friends like author Becky Scharnhorst did in her book BEST BUDS. Keep growing with new reads.
Best Buds Book Review
In our last post before summer break, I’m excited to share Becky Scharnhorst and illustrator Jiarui Jiang’s upbeat, delightful book about moving, making friends, and growing new ones.
Lucky me,I discovered this book when Becky and I worked together to enhance her school visit presentations for the 2025-2026 school year. (Yes, it’s summer, but as a former school librarian, I used part of my summer breaks investigating authors for the upcoming year.) School librarians, this would be the perfect book and author for a fall or spring visit!
Friendship stories are “evergreen” topics in children's literature. So how do you take this time-honored trope and make it new? Author Becky Scharnhorst and illustrator Jiarui Jiang’s combined skills create a story that cultivates a different POV when examining friendship.
While Spencer’s mom is worried about him making friends when they move, Spencer’s happily making friends with an array of plants: Fred's an excellent listener, Dottie’s a bit wild, and Eugene’s a jokester. Spencer has chosen excellent friends for all the right reasons. He takes his friends to lunch, storytime, and the playground, adding new friends along the way.
Can you find a friend in a box? What if your friend is another species? What if your family doesn’t understand? BEST BUDS answers all these questions and lays ground for rich conversations about friends that teachers, librarians, and family will enjoy reading and discussing with young readers. Spencer may be “late bloomer,” as his mom says, but Spencer’s open-minded attitude reveals friends come in all shapes and sizes! Whimsical art, and plethora of plants with personality make this a great read-aloud. This picture book encourages readers to find their own plant companions and see nature as a loving entity that needs care, like best buds do! The last few spreads at the end make for a sweet, surprising ending! (Still time to preorder this book!)
Craft Chat with Becky Scharnhorst
Kathy: I’ve read your first three books: My School Stinks (2021), This Field Trip Stinks (2022), and How to Get Your Octopus to School (2023). How do you see Best Buds similar to your other books? How is it different?
Becky Scharnhorst: I love books that make me laugh, so I always try to incorporate at least a little humor into my writing. I think that is one way in which all of my books are similar. However, I would say the humor in Best Buds is more subtle than the humor in my other books. Also, all three of my first books feature a character who is feeling a bit nervous and unsure about something. In my first two books, Stuart is nervous about going to school with wild animals and then he’s nervous about taking a field trip IN THE WILD! In my third book, the octopus is anxious about going to school. In contrast, the main character in Best Buds is quite confident. Even when the adults in Spencer’s life question him, he remains true to himself and his choice of friends. That’s one of the things I love most about him!
Becky Scharnhorst: About a year before the pandemic, my family and I moved across the country. Making friends can be difficult in the best circumstances, but trying to connect after a move and during a pandemic was nearly impossible! A couple years later, I realized I still didn’t have a strong community around me. It was about this time that I decided to buy a gorgeous Aloe Vera plant I spotted in a local store. I did this despite my dismal record for keeping green things alive. To my amazement, Dottie thrived! And so did our friendship. My family thought it was ridiculous how much I talked to her, but I didn’t have any other friends to talk to, and it felt odd NOT talking to this beautiful, living, growing thing sitting right next to me. Soon, my whole house was filled with plants and taking care of them brought me so much joy! I eventually found human friends in my new town as well, but my plants kept me company in the meantime. So this story is very much inspired by my own move and my new best buds. Dottie, in particular, holds a special place in my heart, and while I don’t ever say this around the others, she is my favorite.
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| Becky w/her Best Bud "Dottie #1 |
Becky Scharnhorst: I’m so glad you picked up on that because this was something that was there from the beginning, and it was something I felt passionate about including. I wanted Spencer to be confident in who he was and in his choice of friends regardless of what the adults around him were saying. It’s clear from page one that his mom is worried about Spencer’s ability to make friends. But he’s not worried at all! It’s easy! And he’s not concerned about his ability to make more friends either. Spencer knows what he is looking for in a friend and he gently challenges anyone who questions his choices. He knows more about friendship than the adults give him credit for, which I think happens a lot. Often, adults think we know what’s best for the children in our lives, but kids have much to teach us if we are willing to listen. That was one of the things I wanted to explore in this story.
Becky Scharnhorst: Oh my goodness. I wrote so many different endings! I had an ending where Spencer doesn’t make any human friends, he just sticks with his plants and is perfectly happy. I had another ending where it looks like he and Daisy are going to become friends, but instead they both end up hugging Eugene (the tree). I had an ending where Daisy and Spencer bond over their mutual love of plants, not plants and insects. And I had many variations of this ending. So. Many. Endings. But I landed on this one because I wanted to show that Spencer wasn’t against having a human friend. On the contrary, Spencer is open to all kinds of friendships and he recognizes the value of each unique friend. He even refers to Daisy’s caterpillar as “your friend” because he knows right away that’s what Raymond is to Daisy. The reason Spencer and Daisy are a perfect match is because they both know love and friendship can bloom in unexpected places.
Kathy: Tell us about the way Jiarui Jiang’s illustrations add to and expand the story. Did you have any input on that? It's such a beautiful book – words and pictures together!
Becky Scharnhorst: I don't think I can overstate how much depth and beauty Jiarui's illustrations brought to this story. One of my favorite examples of this is how we see Spencer's room change throughout the book. Right after the move, Spencer's room is empty and lifeless. But as the story progresses, and Spencer makes more and more friends, we see how full and colorful his life is becoming. I don't know if this was Jiarui's vision or Lauren’s (the Art Director), but it was absolute genius! Originally, I imagined Spencer and Fred sharing a drink outside after they met. However, placing them inside gives the reader a chance to revisit his room and see the dramatic growth (both literal and figurative) that is happening in Spencer's life.
Another small detail I love is how many straws there are in the glasses of water his mom brings in at the end. In the beginning, she is questioning whether he might want a friend who could talk. But by the end, she has come to see the value of all his friendships. That one small detail shows how Spencer is changing the world around him and influencing others in a positive way. And that’s just one of the many ways Jiariu’s detailed illustrations bring richness and depth to this story. I am so grateful to have partnered with her on this book because I feel like she really understood the story right from the beginning and she brought so much more to it. I only added art notes where they were necessary for clarity.
Becky Scharnhorst:I have three upcoming picture book projects in the works, but unfortunately, I can’t share any specific details yet. I will say that one is a rhyming manuscript (my first, and perhaps only, one) and the other two include some fun nonfiction elements even though they are both fiction picture books. I hope I can share more news soon! If you’d like to stay informed, you can follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my newsletter. Thank you so much for having me on the GROG blog, Kathy! I appreciate your support and kind words about BEST BUDS!
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| Get your new friends here! |
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| "Dottie #2 . . .look how she GREW! |
