Feeling Boo

Boniello and Lavalle offer an emotionally attuned portrait of how to support a melancholic friend in this pun-filled picture book. When ghost Ollie starts “feeling a bit boo,” fellow spirit and longtime bestie Ellie does everything she can to cheer him: a “specter-tacular night” of activities includes a moonlight serenade with some friends in the graveyard, playing music on an old Victrola, and attempting to frighten passersby. Even after Ellie is left “half dead from the night’s activities,” Ollie’s sadness persists. The well-intentioned friend continues to offer suggestions until at last Ollie gets her attention long enough to entreat, “I don’t think we can outrun these boos.... What if we tried just... sitting here for a bit?” The quietly gladdening result points to the many forms care and support can take. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)