THE FRIENDSHIP BOOK
By
In her third book, Hubbard brings the distinctive style introduced in C Is for Curious (1990), an innovative pictorial exploration of the emotions, to a dozen aphorisms: ""A friend keeps your secrets""; ""Friends don't always agree""; etc. Again, the artist's vibrantly contrasted colors and decorative animal figures--in simple, dynamic shapes that could have been inspired by Matisse's cutouts--deftly express the subtleties of emotion, whether in a fearful blue creature clinging to its insouciant, boldly yellow companion, whose delicate stance declares understanding as well as courage; or in a comfortably rounded pair with similar shapes and dissimilar but related colors, relaxing among pleasantly curvilinear forms (""Friends just need each other""). Children--as well as adults--will be amused by the humor and the strength of the visual expression.