'I Don't Care' is a book about what matters in friendship, illustrated by best friends

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/10/ [login to see] /i-dont-care-julie-fogliano-molly-idle-juana-martinez-neal
When you're looking for a friend, there are things that matter, and things that don't. Julie Fogliano's I Don't Care is about what's not important ("I really don't care what you think of my hair, or my eyes or my toes or my nose") as well as what is ("I care if you wish, and I care if you sing, and I care if you like to lean back when you swing.")

I Don't Care started out as a freewriting exercise a couple of years ago. It came from a jumble of childhood memories, but it wasn't about anyone in particular. "I just wrote, like, a whole bunch of pages of pretty much nonsense," says Fogliano.

But then, the story ended up on the desk of illustrator Molly Idle, who read the first line and immediately knew what the story was about.

"This is a story about two people who are on the surface maybe seemingly very different, but at their cores are very, very similar," says Idle, "and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, that's just like me and Juana!'"