This is a dryly funny story about having a best friend—and we love the expressive face of the lugubrious mushroom friend.
A Better Best Friend
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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Book Details
Country of Origin France Book Size ISBN
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Reviews
Available worldwide from your local bookstore or online.
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YLG (UK) –
This is 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 (a fly) comes to play. The ideal book for the thinking – and overthinking – child negotiating friendships and open to the ridiculousness of a best mushroom friend.
Red Reading Hub –
Translated from the French by Anthony Shugaar, Tallec’s playful, slightly surreal quirkiness, is evident in his scenes of the characters in this tale which is likely to leave many readers, including this reviewer pondering upon its open-ended nature – or perhaps that’s the creator’s intention.
Outside in World –
A Better Best Friend is a gorgeous and funny book with illustrations that zing making it a book you will want to read again and again.
The Horn Book Magazine –
“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.”
School Library Journal –
“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.”
Booklist –
“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.”
Foreword Reviews –
“Demonstrates the value of a best friend—or two.”—starred, Foreword Reviews