“A New Friend at Lunch,” Friend, July 2019
A New Friend at Lunch
The authors live in California and Utah, USA.
Illustrations by Jimmy Holder
At school Austin sat in a circle with his class. His teacher taught them songs to sing. Austin sang as loud as he could.
During lunch Austin sat with his friends. They shared cookies. They ate sandwiches. They told jokes. Everyone was happy.
Except one boy did not look happy. Austin saw him sitting alone. The boy started to cry.
At home, Austin sat at the kitchen table while Dad chopped vegetables.
“How was school?” Dad asked.
“It was fun. But there was a new boy at school. I don’t think he had a great day,” Austin said.
“Why not?”
“He was sitting alone at lunch and crying.” Austin frowned.
“It sounds like he was pretty sad,” Dad said. “How could you help him?”
Austin rested his chin in his hands. Then he sat up straight. He had an idea. “Maybe I could talk to him at lunch! And I could ask him to sit with me and my friends.”
“That’s a good idea,” Dad said.
The next day Austin looked for the boy at lunch. The boy was sitting alone.
“Hi,” Austin said. “I’m Austin. What’s your name?”
“Hi,” said the boy. “I’m Max.”
“Want to sit with me and my friends?”
“Sure!” said Max.
Austin and Max sat with Austin’s friends. They shared cookies. They ate sandwiches. They told jokes. Everyone was happy, including Max.