The Friendship Bench

In a corner of a school playground stands an old wooden bench, silver-grey and weathered, with carved flowers along its backrest. Eight-year-old Mia loves noticing things others miss, and one sunny morning she sees those carved flowers glowing softly like tiny golden lamps. On the bench sits Leo, a new boy holding his sketchbook under one arm like a shield. Remembering how it feels to be new, Mia takes a deep breath and sits down beside him, and that simple hello begins a friendship.

Soon Mia and Leo meet at the bench every break to draw rockets and planets and talk about stars. When they notice Zoe standing alone by the fence, they invite her to join them, and more children begin to look toward the bench. This gentle tale by Yavuz DEMİRKIRAN follows a single thread from that first hello to a shared rule: anyone who sits on the bench is never alone. Young readers can read The Friendship Bench on Online Masal, and it offers parents, teachers and carers an easy way to talk with children about loneliness, inclusion and friendship.