PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Lisa Mantchev is the author of Strictly No Elephants, Sister Day!, and the Theatre Illuminata series. She studied drama at the University of California, Irvine, and now lives on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state with her family. Taeeun Yoo has illustrated many books for young readers, including So Many Days and Only A Witch Can Fly, both by Alison McGhee. Taeeun studied Korean brush painting at Hong Ik University in South Korea and attended graduate school in illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She divides her time between Seoul and New York City. Visit her at TaeeunYoo.com.
Having a tiny elephant for a pet sounds idyllic, but a boy discovers that the local Pet Club doesn't allow them; a stern girl points at a Strictly No Elephants sign. Heading home in the rain, the boy and his elephant spot a girl with her skunk. They don't want us to play with them either, she says. Joined by other owners of unexpected pets--giraffes, armadillos, even a small narwhal in a bowl--they make their own club with its own sign: All Are Welcome. In her first picture book, Mantchev (Ticker) examines true friendship, sprinkling observations about the behavior of boy and elephant throughout ( He doesn't like the cracks in the sidewalk much. I always go back and help him over ) and punctuating them with the refrain, Because that's what friends do. Yoo's (Hands Say Love) linoleum block prints of brick buildings and quiet sidewalks have the softness and warmth of a favorite blanket. It's a message book about exclusion with an oh-so-gentle lead-in for discussion.--Publishers Weekly July 20, 2015
