SNOOZIE, SUNNY, AND SO-SO

Dog and cat best friends invite a lonely third into their companionship.

Sunny, a red dog with floppy white ears, and Snoozie, a gray tiger cat, live together in “a small house with a red window sill.” They have different predilections—Sunny is predictably active while Snoozie prefers to relax—but they are devoted to each other. The action begins when, after reminding Snoozie that tomorrow is her birthday, Sunny urges her friend up for a walk. Investigating a noise, Sunny enters a strange house over Snoozie’s remonstrations, discovering “a raggedy ball of black wool [with] two frightened eyes and a scruffy little face” huddling in a basket: So-So. The little dog lives alone, her best friend having moved to “a desert of ice” on “the other side of the world.” Sunny coaxes So-So and Snoozie into a rambunctious game, then Snoozie invites So-So to her birthday party tomorrow. So-So exhibits a classic case of extreme social anxiety, but she gathers her courage and, of course, has a wonderful time. Amit’s soft-edged illustrations, done in a palette of muted blues, reds, and grays, depict unclothed animals who walk on all fours and play boisterously but inhabit human homes and write using pen and paper. There is nary a human in sight, which lends a whimsically surreal touch to this gentle friendship tale. In Appel’s translation from Hebrew, Ben-Zvi’s narrative unfolds with a delicate sweetness that never tips into the saccharine.

An understated delight from Israel.