One day, a small boy receives a very special invitation -- the King and the Queen have invited him to the castle for tea. He accepts, with one question: "May I bring a friend?"

"Any friend of our friend is welcome her," says the King. But their guest's friend turns out to be someone they never expected!

Beatrice Schenk de Regniers's rhythmic text and the fantastical, jewellike artwork of Beni Montresor have made this book a favorite for more than twenty-five years.
整整一個星期，好客的國王和皇后總是盛情邀約小男孩到皇宮里作客。每一次小男孩都會征求國王的意見“May I Bring a Friend?"。第一次，小男孩帶了他的朋友長頸鹿一起到皇宮喝下午茶，國王不但一點都不驚訝或生氣，甚至和善地向長頸鹿打招呼。接下來，國王夫婦仍然不斷地邀請男孩成為他們的座上嘉賓，早餐、午餐、下午茶、晚餐甚至萬圣節，每一次，男孩還是非常禮貌地問道是否能帶一位朋友赴宴呢?好客的國王夫婦當然一口答應，就這樣皇宮里的訪客多了河馬、猴子、大象、獅子，甚至還有海狗!

本書利用重復、押韻和節奏性文字，組成一個趣味又生動的故事。不僅文字流暢，透過情節的發展，孩子還能認識各種野生動物，更重要的是在朗誦"May I Bring a Friend?"時，學會如何當一個有禮貌的好小孩。

本書榮獲1965年凱迪克金牌獎，至今仍深受大小朋友喜愛。

The King and Queen are most gracious hosts to a certain little boy--and any friend of his is a friend of theirs. When he brings a giraffe to tea, the King doesn't blink an eye and says, "Hello. How do you do?" and the Queen merely exclaims, "Well! Fancy meeting you!" The royal pair continue to invite the boy as their guest for tea, breakfast, lunch, dinner, apple pie, and Halloween, and each time he politely asks if he can bring a friend, waits for their assent, then brings a hippo, monkeys, an elephant, and once even a pride of lions into their elegant home. Beatrice Schenk De Regniers's gentle, repetitive, rhyming story, with the refrain "So I brought my friend," will resonate with young children, who will be pleased to see the well-behaved wild animals wreaking harmless havoc in the palace, and soothed by the unfalteringly open arms and perpetual politesse of the King and Queen. Beni Montresor's distinctive, inky, richly colored drawings earned this book a Caldecott Medal in 1965, and have won the hearts of children ever since. (Ages 3 and older) --Karin Snelson