Friendship is a vital component of every child's life. These thoughtful, sweet, funny new picture books introduce unlikely friends and encourage youngsters to consider every child a friend.

"Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always" by Tao Nyeu; Dial/Penguin; 38 pages; $16.99.

With an appealing modern/vintage look, Nyeu's friendship ode stars an octopus and a squid that love each other but aren't perfect. In the first of four short stories, the pair argues over whether to wear mittens or socks and, with the help of an earmuff-donning turtle, decide to share and wear both. Sweetly, the vignette ends as Octopus and Squid cozy up in socks and mittens while sipping hot tea and munching on cake.

Next in "The Dream," Squid dreams of having x-ray vision and flying, and he is sad when he realizes he's just "regular old me again." Octopus reminds his friend that he IS Super Squid, who organizes Tickle Monday every week and knits cozies for Hermit Crab's entire family.

Other tales, rich in simple but imaginative friendship lessons, are "The Hat" and "The Fortune Cookie." Nyeu's quirky stories are perfectly succinct enough for brief bedtime reading. Her sun-washed colors of blues, greens and oranges paint a retro-cool undersea life that's highly artsy yet incredibly tot-friendly.

"Lovabye Dragon" by Barbara Josse; illustrated by Randy Cecil; Candlewick Press; 32 pages; $15.99.

Once there was a little girl, "an all-alone girl," who didn't have a dragon for a friend. There was also a dragon in his dragon cave that dreamed of a girl for a friend. The girl cried silver tears, and the trickle flowed away like a small creek until the "little tickle of tears" woke the dragon. Dragon followed the trail of tears and, alas, the pair met and became fast friends.

With appropriately medieval-muted colors, Cecil's cozy nightscape pages are the perfect palate for Josse's friendship tale of unlikely proportions — "On the outside, Girl is little. On the outside, Dragon's biggie. But they're exactly the same size in the middle."

"The Olive Branch: Red & Yellow's Noisy Night" by Josh Selig; Sterling Publishing; 28 pages; $14.95.

Selig's "The Olive Branch" series of books and animated TV shows aims to teach young children about conflict resolution and mutual respect and is praised by peace seekers including Deepak Chopra and Desmond Tutu. The non-profit public charity involved is called "Little Light Foundation" and can be accessed at www.littlelightfoundation.com.

In "Red and Yellow's Noise Night," friends Red and Yellow, who resemble a large chipmunk and a fox, argue about Red's loud strummy playing when Yellow wants to sleep. Soon, Red realizes the night is quiet and begins to play his strummy quieter, which actually helps sweetly docile Yellow curl up in their olive tree and sleep. The colorful pages show off a funny pair of buddies, who clearly have mutual respect for one another and successfully resolve their conflict. A sweet read-aloud, Selig's tale shows children how easy and fun it can be to get along with others.

"Bear Has a Story to Tell" by Philip C. Stead; illustrated by Erin E. Stead; A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press; 32 pages; $16.99.

Bear is getting sleepy but has a story to tell. He asks Duck if he'd listen, but Duck is getting ready to fly south. Frog is busy looking for a warm place to sleep, and Mole is already snoozing. Bear helps them all get ready for winter and is so tired he finally hibernates. When he awakens in spring, he gathers his friends, is ready to tell his story, but by this time has forgotten it. Instead, Bear begins his story time with, "It was almost winter, and Bear was getting sleepy..."

With a subtly sweet message of patience and the value of assisting others over thinking of oneself, Stead's gentle picture book reminds us all that friendship takes time. Erin Stead's sketchy watercolors come alive on a clear white background, and the tale's words are thoughtful and endearing.

"Froggy's Worst Playdate" by Jonathan London; illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz; Viking/Penguin; 32 pages; $16.99.

London's famous boy pal Froggy wants to play. His friends are all busy, and when his daddy says he's taking Froggy to see "The Frog Prince" with a girl (!), Froggy makes a lot of racket about not going. Once at the movie theater, Frogalina tries to sit next to Froggy and even kisses him on the cheek after the girl in the movie kisses her frog prince. At first Froggy is horrified, but after the pair share popcorn and ice cream cones, he realizes this was probably not the worst play date ever.

An action-packed, hilarious, busy read, "Froggy's Worst Playdate" points out that initial ideas of friendships can change and that the bestest of buddies may not be the first chosen.

"Oliver" by Birgitta Sif; Candlewick Press; 32 pages; $16.99.

Oliver is a boy who enjoys his solitude and playing with puppets and his own imagination. But when Oliver's tennis ball rolls across the lawn and into the yard of the girl next door, he learns a real friend can give him what all his toys can't.

Newcomer Birgitta Sif's wiry, darkish illustrations give a dry, witty look to the entertaining read, which pays homage to the power of imagination and trying new things.

To find out more about Lee Littlewood and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.