A charming children's read that approaches big emotions of envy and jealousy (difficult concepts for even some adults) with empathy, compassion, and friendship at the forefront of everything. A sweet story that gives little ones the tools to mediate little friendships.

This is more of a teaching tool than a story you'd read for fun or literary merit, but it's useful when needed. Kids can definitely relate to feeling left out or pushed out when someone new comes along. The text is very on-the-nose (as opposed to nuance or letting readers infer things) but that could be very helpful for kids learning how to identify and articulate feelings. This provides useful scripts for all perspectives in this conflict and ends with a nice model for how to share honestly and work out problems and misunderstandings.

The illustrations are lively and support the text well. The reader is left to make up their own tune/interpretation of the songs featured in the story, so think about how you want to tackle that if you're going to read this aloud. This is a good resource for social emotional learning for ages 4-7.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

A cute story with great illustrations about learning to work cooperatively, feeling jealous/left out, and forgiveness. Kids will love the tale of band mates Bear, Fox, Seagull & Duck. As an early elementary school counselor I can see this being a good teaching tool for students who feel left out, or are leaving others out. One thing I didn’t like is when the seagull says “what the peck” I can envision my kindergarten students repeating that over and over again, and the book losing some of it’s positive message because of it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

The message of this book is that everyone has their own strengths but for everyone to benefit, it is best to workt ogether. This book has cute illustrations and would be engaging to young readers.

Better Together is a sweet sequel about how to adapt when a new friend joins your group of friends. The music element adds a special touch. I will definitely be adding this book to our school library.

This is an adorable book about a group of animal friends that have a band and realize that they are better together after they venture their separate ways.

Better Together tells the story of aa group of animals who are part of The Band. Seagull is the lead singer until Duck joins The Band and starts singing. Seagull is jealous and feels left out, so Seagull quits The Band and decides to go solo. But a solo career is lonely and not so fun. The good news is that Seagull's animal friends apologize to her and she apologizes to Duck for being jealous. Seagull and Duck decide to write songs together and create perfect harmony.
This is an adorable story with a simple, yet effective, message about friendship and jealousy. I liked how the animals apologized for making Seagull feel left out, but Seagull also apologized for being jealous of Duck. This is a great way to demonstrate taking acknowledging others' feelings while taking personal accountability for one's own feelings. This would be a great read aloud during circle time and could also be used as needed as jealousy rears its ugly head in elementary age friendships.

Better Together has a good premise about working together with your friends. However, the story line fell a bit flat for us. My younger co-reviewer turned to me after we read and said, "I didn't really care for that book." I can't argue with critics from the target audience.

An interesting story of friendship and what it can be like when a new person enters the mix. This could be helpful for elementary age students as an example of what can happen when friendships change.

Adorable story about working together as friends. Every person, big or small, is unique in their own special way. This would make a great resource for early childhood teachers, like myself, to read to students about working together- teamwork. Thank you to NetGalley for the wonderful ARC.

Better Together's story was simple, but easy for littles to understand. The feelings are feelings that little ones have felt, and can see the feelings on Seagull's face. As a parent reading this to a child, I loved that not only did Duck and the other animals apologize to Seagull for hurting her feelings, but Seagull apologized for being jealous. Teaching littles to take ownership for their feelings and to use their words is such a great thing in a book. Illustrations were bright and colorful, and matched the story well.

Super Cute Character Illustrations!!

I really adore the illustrations and the characters in this picture book. The images are sure to draw in young readers. I really like that this story brings frustration out in the open. Helping young readers to learn about emotions and specifically about frustration is a valuable lesson. Children can learn about what it feels like to be frustrated and how to solve similar feelings with friends and classmates. Talking to your friends when you are upset with them and finding a solution together is priceless.

This would be a great book to share at school and with children in counseling sessions. Emotional awareness is a powerful tool for success!!

Grateful to have received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley & American Psychological Association, Magination Press

This was very cute. You understand the character's frustration and it gives a little lesson in how, while you may feel frustrated, if you don't communicate this, your friends might not know anything is wrong. The illustrations are quirky and fun- I especially loved Duck's beanie. The resolution is good and there is communication and compromise. There can never be enough books about talking about your feelings.

Better Together is great guide for young children learning to navigate through feelings of jealously and envy. Seagull used to be the lead singer of their band but once Duck joined, things started to change and not for the better. Seagull feels sad, then mad, and then one day, she feels so left out that she leaves. Are things better off alone? Her best friends are off to find her and through open communication, the four of them realize that they're better off together!

This story would be a useful tool for young children who are dealing with new feelings of jealousy and envy. They might not be able to vocalize the way they're feeling just yet but Seagull's story can help them connect and realize that what they're feeling is jealousy or envy. The resolution between Seagull and her friends gives a great example for young students that sometimes, open communication is the best bet. (Aren't we adults still learning this too? This book was a great reminder for me, too!)

One thing I wasn't a big fan of was when Seagull said "what the peck?" when she was upset and the illustration when her friends find her with drinks and food laid out in front of her at the music bar. The bottles say pop and the drinks all look innocent enough but I thought it was a bit too mature for a book for little kids. Otherwise, I enjoyed all other parts of the story!

Thank you NetGalley and Magination Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This picture book tells the story of some animal friends in a band. Seagull quickly begins to feel left out when Duck joins the band and everyone seems to like Duck's singing better. Seagull feels jealous and left out, so she leaves the band, but in the end the friends all realize that it is important to work together and have fun with your friends. Teaching children about jealousy and feeling left out is a tricky subject and this book does a great job illustrating situations that many children find themselves in on the playground, when working in groups, or in after school activities. Considering the impact the pandemic has had on socialization of children, this book and others on similar topics will become more and more important in classroom libraries and bookshelves at home as we go back and teach the skills our children have not yet learned. I would recommend this book to parents and teachers of children in the age 4-9 range. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!