Author(s): Charlotte Zolotow

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A poignant evocation of childhood pain and jealousy at the desertion of a best friend, with a message of optimism and empowermentA child reminisces about the many joyful and playful moments she used to share with her dear old buddy, who has made a new friend. But although she is sad, she finds the strength to keep her head high and sets out to find a new playmate.

STELLA'S REVIEW:
This is an optimistic tale. Having a best friend is excellent. Losing a best friend is difficult. The excellent author Charlotte Zolotow manages to talk about betrayal, sadness and anger, and the empowering action of overcoming a difficult situation without resorting to easy saccharine answers. At the beginning is memory. Memories of all the wonderful things you did with your friend. Walking in the woods, listening to the rain, picking flowers, eating apples in a tree, and reading books together. And then, they are no longer there. They are with a new friend, sharing all your wonderful friendly things. You’re sad and mad. You cry until you fall asleep. You dream of a someone else. They take you on new paths with different adventures to places you have never been before. When you wake up, it’s time to go in search of this new friend. Looking for them is an adventure in itself, and your memory of your first friend is tucked inside. This classic Zolotow story (first published in 1968) has fresh joyful illustrations by Benjamin Chaud. Chaud’s style is both quiet (the rain falling over the rooftops, the soft wallpaper that cocoons the child in bed) and effervescent (running across the field, a jaunty sun umbrella for a reading shelter) capturing the different moods of the text. There are small birds flittering through the pages and a rabbit popping up when least expected which add little, surprising details to this dreamy thoughtful, and hopeful landscape.
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"The devoted friendship of two children ends without warning . . . This all-too-common childhood experience is dramatized with an emotional honesty that, refreshingly, skirts sentimentality."--Kirkus (starred review)
--Kirkus
Zolotow's gentle, introspective text, honest about the narrator's anger and sadness, is now accompanied by new but vintage-feeling illustrations from Chaud. (...) A hopeful but not too neat story of a situation likely to be relatable to many.--The Horn Book

Author Biography: Iconic American author Charlotte Zolotow was also a poet, editor, and publisher of over 70 picture books for children. Her work was published by more than 20 different houses (many of which she outlived!). In 1998, the Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a published picture book was created. Benjamin Chaud was born in the Hautes-Alpes and studied drawing and applied arts at the Arts Appliques in Paris and the Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg. His work has received multiple awards, and his books have been recommended by the New York Times. He was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019.