A Circle of Friends has an appropriately circular story. When, on the spur of the moment, a small boy kindly shares his fruit muffin with a homeless man it sets in train a series of events that ends up bringing the child a joyful surprise.

We first meet the boy staring wistfully out of his window at a large tree growing nearby. He is bored, but when his mother gives him some pocket money he rushes happily down to the bakery to buy a bun.

Having bought a delicious bun, he takes a big bite out of it. Then he notices a homeless man sleeping on a bench and has a kind thought.

Thinking the man must be hungry, the boy leaves the remainder of his cake on the bench and runs away. We just see one foot on the right of the page as he disappears off.

The man wakes up, sees the cake and thoroughly enjoys it. Then he, in turn, notices a family of hungry birds nesting in the tree and leaves some crumbs for them to enjoy, too.

The parent birds share the crumbs with their fledgling, who quickly flies down to see if the man has any more treats to offer.

And he has! Out of his breast pocket he takes out a small seed and gives it to the young bird.

The bird flies away with the seed and drops it into the window box outside the boy’s window.

Time passes and the rain pours down. Soon a shoot appears and gradually grows taller and taller – until one day the boy looks out to find a glorious sunflower blossoming right outside his window. His moment of spontaneous kindness has reaped an unexpected but well deserved reward.

Carmi’s illustrations are mainly black-and-white line drawings, with particular elements highlighted in colour. This focuses the reader’s attention on whatever is of principal importance in each picture, whether that be the boy, cake, fledgling, seed, or sunflower. It’s a visual technique that can help a young child decode a wordless story more easily.

Giora Carmi (b.1944) was born in what is now Israel. He studied graphic design in Jerusalem and worked for 14 years as a graphic designer and illustrator. In 1985 he moved to the United States, where he continued his illustration career, working for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He has illustrated 42 children’s books and has worked as an art therapist. He also studied Zen for 12 years.