Best Friends: A Pop-Up Book

A cheerful cartoon girl in pigtails recounts the pretend games that she and her best friend, James—who is in a wheelchair—play together, their actions brought to life by pop-ups and other interactive elements. The friends pilot a pop-up pirate ship that rocks atop a curling wave, climb a snow-covered pop-up mountain, drive a spaceship “on a mission to Mars,” and venture back in time to see dinosaurs. And sometimes they simply spend time together. To Safran’s credit, her prose makes no mention of James’s physical condition, letting his evident imagination, capability, and activity do the talking. Illustrator’s agent: The Bright Agency. Ages 3–up. (Nov.)