cover image SUNSHINE & STORM

SUNSHINE & STORM

Elisabeth Jones, , illus. by James Coplestone. . Ragged Bears, $14.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-929927-27-2

This tale from a British team features a pair of watercolor confections, the eponymous orange cat and gray dog (respectively). The two are best friends: "Storm usually followed Sunshine like a shadow on a bright day. Sometimes Sunshine followed Storm, like the light behind a cloud." Then one day, Storm's canine exuberance gets the better of him, and he shakes his rain-sodden coat dry in Sunshine's face. "Her fur stood on end and she hissed a horrible H-h-h-h-i-i-i-s-s-s-s at Storm." The rift caused by Storm's thoughtlessness is mended, but not without some heavy-handed prose ("The brightness and the warmth did not melt Sunshine's anger or heal Storm's hurt"). Coplestone's pictures, however, retain their aqueous magic from start to finish. His Sunshine is a collection of shimmering stripes with some witty whiskers that lend her the air of a boulevardier. And the gray and black splotches that constitute the gangly Storm seem to have a life of their own, roiling like a cloud ready to erupt. The closing image of the forgiving friends in rainbow colors reinforces the trumpeted but worthy message: that friendship can weather many changes. Ages 3-6. (May)