Friends (Board Book): True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

K-Gr 2—Thimmesh uses a simple rhyming text and stellar color photos to celebrate unusual friendships. In addition to the verse, she records further details in prose paragraphs to give some context and to help older readers understand these often-inexplicable relationships. One can possibly comprehend a cheetah cub/puppy pair at a zoo, or even a baby badger and a baby fox at a wildlife sanctuary, but she documents a wild, adult polar bear and a tethered sled dog, a basset hound and an owl, and an Asian camel and a miniature Vietnamese pig. Unthinkable? "It doesn't matter—not in the end—because deep where it counts, /one knows a true friend." The photos radiate trust and warmth, and the text is soothing and reassuring.—Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY