The Book

The Merlin Buddy Bench: Take Part in the Magic of Friendship

Kelly finally completed the benches. But she felt like something was still missing. She wanted to insure that the meaning behind the bench didn’t get lost over time.  So, she wrote and illustrated a book to be read year after year to students or members of an organization that have a Merlin Buddy Bench.

The book takes place at a grade school.  It is about a boy who feels excluded on a playground.  Then, Merlin the Magician appears and grants the boy’s wish that this kind of thing never happens to anyone else on the school playground.  The next day the Merlin Buddy Bench appears and as soon as he sits on it, other kids immediately notice him and invite him to play.  All the kids soon learn that if they sit on the bench when they feel lonely, someone will notice them and invite them to talk or play.  More importantly, they learn that the true magic is not from the bench itself but from the friendships that they make.  Multiple copies of the book can be used in the classrooms to help the teachers explain the purpose of the bench at the beginning of every school year to the students.