New collaborators Landa and Warnes (who is often paired with Julie Sykes) have created a picture book about friendship, jealousy, arguing and making things right again. The pictorial gimmick here is a Mylar balloon they find, which appears within the illustrations as a shiny and reflective foil element. Both want the balloon, which makes a very fine mirror. They squabble and—predictably—end up ripping it in half. Each storms home and admires himself in his fragment of Mylar, but soon the longing for friendship trumps the argument and all is well. A number of words in the text are produced in a much larger font than the rest. There appears TO be no RHYME or reason for THIS stylistic decision, forcing an awkward and unnatural reading-aloud experience. The illustrations are vintage Warnes—sweet, warmly colored and evocative—but this book about the testing of friendship remains strictly ADDITIONAL. (Picture book. 3-7)
