A Better Best Friend
by Olivier Tallec (Author) Olivier Tallec (Illustrator)
A feel-good picture book about best friendship told with dry comedy and an open ending--squirrel and mushroom are best friends until another best friend comes to play.
This morning when I was out walking, I found a best friend. At least I think so. It certainly looks a lot like it! He really has a best friend kind of face.
In this funny picture book exploring a forever childhood question about friendship, squirrel and a mushroom explore the forest through the seasons, show each other special trees, build snow mushrooms, share the good times and bad--which become good bad times alongside a friend.
Then spring arrives, and so does a new friend. And then another. This raises a profound question for an overthinking squirrel: should we have just one best friend?
"This book is adorable!"--starred, Youth Services Book Review
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School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 3--One morning, a squirrel is out walking and happens upon a mushroom best friend: "Usually, all I find are pinecones, but this is definitely a best friend. At least I think he is. I've been wanting a best friend for a long time. Anyway, he looks like one." He waits all day for his new friend, Pock, to speak. When Pock finally smiles, "He has a real best friend face." With offbeat, deadpan humor, the squirrel goes about ensuring best friend status. As rich forest greens yield into yellow and orange and then the grays of winter, denoting the passing of time, their friendship deepens. But with the arrival of spring comes a challenge: another friend... and then another. Expressive eyes (reminiscent of Jon Klassen's work) do much to convey emotion in this clever examination of an existential question: is it possible to have more than one best best friend? Tallec's charming, child-friendly story captures an ever-present concern of many readers, young and old, and offers an open ending that invites discussion. VERDICT An outstanding read-aloud for adults and children, bursting with humor and warmth. Recommended for all collections.--Rebecca Kirshenbaum
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Hornbook
"Through a distinctive first-person narrative voice that sometimes verges on stream of consciousness, this book explores the question of what makes a best friend and whether it's possible to have more than one. . . The characters' simply drawn faces are evocative, their expressions rendered humorously hyperbolic through their stylized cartoon-like eyes."--The Horn Book Magazine
Review quotes
"Tallec's illustrations reflect the quietly amusing quality of the text while giving each character a distinctive look and creating a beautiful forest backdrop with stately trees, filtered light, and seasonal changes of colors. The idea of finding a friend will resonate with many children, and Squirrel's first-person narrative reads aloud well."—Booklist
"Demonstrates the value of a best friend—or two."—starred, Foreword Reviews
"Through a distinctive first-person narrative voice that sometimes verges on stream of consciousness, this book explores the question of what makes a best friend and whether it's possible to have more than one. . . The characters' simply drawn faces are evocative, their expressions rendered humorously hyperbolic through their stylized cartoon-like eyes."—The Horn Book Magazine
"Tallec's charming, child-friendly story captures an ever-present concern of many readers, young and old, and offers an open ending that invites discussion. An outstanding read-aloud for adults and children, bursting with humor and warmth."—School Library Journal
"Perhaps a chocolatier...To grow huge dark forests where I might get a little lost. Or a singer (in French), whose voice grunts or caresses the words. A voice-over artist, to be 1,000 (and one) people at the same time. A photographer, because my eyes are curious. Or the driver of a race car, who would drive people anywhere (if asked nicely!). Really, I don't know yet what I will do later...Raised on the revolutionary "Fabulettes" of Anne Sylvestre, today I am a writer. To say what astonishes me, touches me, makes me angry, frightens me, or fascinates me. To say that we must not remain silent, for the sake of our memories, too. And I say all this under the gaze of my two daughters, who make me grow, again."--Thomas Scotto Olivier Tallec's work has been called "sensitive", "stunning", "breathtaking", and "beautiful." Tallec was born in Brittany, France, in 1970. After graduating from the École Supérieure D'arts Graphiques in Paris, he worked in advertising as a graphic designer, after which he devoted himself to illustration. Since then he has illustrated more than sixty books, nine of which have been published by Enchanted Lion.
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV002230 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Squirrels
Squirrels
Best friends
Mushrooms
