Once upon a Friend

Middle grade author Gemeinhart makes his picture book debut with a familiar-feeling story of connection that springs up between a child reader and the creaturely protagonist of the child’s favorite series. Moon draws book character Meego, this story’s pensive narrator, in crisp lines and soft colors: the purple creature sports rosy cheeks, a raccoon-like tail, and a hat topped with a white flower. Though Meego frets between readings, there seems little cause for immediate alarm, since the child, portrayed with brown skin, insists on regular rereads (“Again!!!”) as well as on toting the book during various milestones. “My covers opened less and less” as the child matures, but one day Meego is taken from “dust and shadows.” It’s an earnestly told work best directed at readers in the throes of object attachment. Ages 3–6. (June)