Last September, Jack White gave an emotional acoustic performance of The White Stripes song “We’re Going To Be Friends,” and it really was heart-wrenching. Although on its surface, the song is an innocent recounting about growing closer with a friend, it also serves as a nostalgic and emotional look back at childhood, a time when the world felt a lot safer and less complicated. We’re assuming that’s the part of the song that made White so emotional on that day, but now, he’s focusing on the more lighthearted aspects of the song: It was just announced that he adapted the song into a children’s book of the same name (via Pitchfork).
White’s first book is illustrated by Elinor Blake, who was an animator on shows like The Ren and Stimpy Show and Pee Wee’s Playhouse, so you know that White’s words will be accompanied by some high-quality visuals. We’re not sure if the book is going to be just a printing of the song’s lyrics or a tale based on the song, although the song is so much like a kid’s book already that it doesn’t seem like much would need to be changed to make it work in this medium.
The book comes out on November 7, and it will also come with The White Stripes’ recording of the song, as well as versions by Blake (as April March) and another by The Woodstation Elementary School Singers. Revisit the original song below and let us know what other songs you think are fit to be adapted into a kid’s book.
Images: Wikimedia Commons, Third Man Books
