Review by Booklist Review
Sometimes it's nice to be alone, and sometimes it's nice when a friend comes by, but either way, you can find good things about each day. In this affirming acknowledgement that alone does not equal lonely, a young girl eats a cookie, reads a book, practices somersaults, rides a bike, crunches through leaves, takes a walk, plays in a treehouse, and watches it snow. Paired pages first show the girl alone with a toy animal. The second page takes a fanciful turn as the animal becomes life size and the settings become more exotic. Soaring illustrations created with printmaking techniques greatly expand the text and add larger action to the narrative. Somersaults are fun, but tucking and rolling with a full-size whale is an adventure. The episodic nature of the story encourages readers to move slowly and think about each scene. The final comparison resets the premise. The child is shown cozy in bed. Instead of a friend joining the scene, the final page simply states, "dreaming," which puts the animal escapades into a new context.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Sometimes it's nice to be alone," Hest (Billy and Rose: Forever Friends) muses in this book's early lines. "Just you, eating your cookie, alone." Using printmaking techniques, Stead (The Sun Is Late and So Is the Farmer) portrays a child with tan skin, a black ponytail, thick glasses, and a serious expression munching the cookie at a table, a pink elephant stuffy underneath. "But what if a friend pops in?" A page later, the stuffy is gone, but a large, kindly-looking pink elephant pulls out a chair with its trunk: "and there you are, eating your cookie with a friend." The series continues, toggling back and forth between the charms of solitude and the joys of companionship, as the toys seemingly transform into life-size associates. The child somersaults with a whale, "tucking and rolling," and watches the rain in a tree house alongside a giraffe. Hest's playful word use adds charm (about a dinosaur playing in leaves, "sometimes it's nice if a friend comes crunching"), and Stead's animal friends, who often look a little wistful, tap into a primal desire to frolic in perfect safety and abandon, engaging one's private imagination. Ages 4--8. Illustrator's agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--This is a sweet story of a little girl enjoying simple pleasures. She reads a book, rides a bike, crunches leaves, somersaults in the grass, and more. The refrain normalizes solitude so that it feels cozy instead of lonely--"Just you, reading your book, alone, and the only sound in the world is the whispery sound of you turning pages." But other times, Hest adds, "It's nice when a friend stops by." The friend on each spread is a stuffed animal that the girl imagines as her life-size companion. Stead's captivating illustrations, beautifully rendered against a white backdrop, showcase the virtue of imagination. On each spread where the girl is enjoying her solitude, she looms large in the foreground, but when she is joined by a "friend," she becomes smaller as the world around her expands. It's a lovely thought. VERDICT A celebration sure to delight introverts everywhere, this is a recommended first purchase for all.--Lindsay Loup
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Review by Horn Book Review
This question-and-answer story featuring an independent, bespectacled child joyously explores and celebrates everyday moments, whether spent alone or in unexpected company. The book opens with the child focusing on her cookie, disregarding a small pink toy elephant at her feet. "Sometimes it's nice to be alone. Just you, eating your cookie, alone. But what if a friend pops in?" A page-turn addresses that question, with the elephant, no longer a toy, now dominating the spread as a life-size snacking companion. The refrain "sometimes it's nice to be alone" repeats, with the child reading a book near a toy horse, riding a bike with a stuffed bear in the basket, spying from a treehouse with a toy giraffe. Each vignette follows the same pattern, but the reveal is always a delight when the come-to-life toy creates a more dramatic and entertaining scene. A real dinosaur makes playing in a pile of leaves much more exciting, and an alligator friend can turn bathtime into a beach day. The brightly colored, textured illustrations, created by hand using printmaking techniques, are mischievous and detailed, perfectly extending the plucky text. The last spread shows the child ready for bed, looking out the window on a snowy scene; the page-turn reveals a toy penguin on the floor and a final word ("dreaming"), allowing listeners to decide what might come next. Julie RoachJanuary/February 2023 p.61 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Being alone can be fun--but so can spending time with a pal. The book opens with the titular phrase as a tan-skinned child with enormous, dark-rimmed glasses sits at a table, a stuffed elephant at their feet. "Just you, eating your cookie, alone. But what if a friend pops in?" Suddenly, the elephant--now huge and rendered with astonishingly realistic detail--joins the child's snack time. Readers will laugh out loud as the text continues to calmly acknowledge how nice it is when a friend comes along to share cookies. The other adventures in the book also start with the titular phrase and a different, initially inconspicuous toy animal that comes to vivid life. Reading a book with a horse, somersaulting with a whale, trampling autumn leaves with a dinosaur--the list goes on, as does the synergy of words, art, and layout. The text is simple and eloquent, with enough repetition to captivate the youngest readers but also with precise, often lyrical, descriptions for each activity. The child's imagination is sometimes evident even before the animals come to life; in one scene, where text describes the child biking up a hill, "pushing and panting," the illustration depicts them riding up a slightly angled board propped against a barrel. The fantastical adventures wind down at bedtime--but is that a penguin under the bed? (This book was reviewed digitally.) A sparkling reminder that nothing is as powerful as a child's imagination. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
