| Too Close Friends by Shen Roddie, Sally Anne Lambert (Illustrator) |
List: $14.99ordering Not Yet Available: You may still order this title. AMAZON will ship it to you when it is released by the publisher. Reading Level: Ages 4-8 1998ISBN: 0803721889 |
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Reviews and Commentary for Too Close Friends
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From Booklist
, 02/01/98:
Ages 3^-6. The joy of friendship--and of privacy--is dramatized in this
gentle, funny picture book. Hippo and Pig are neighbors and best friends.
Several days a week Pig trots over to Hippo's for a refreshing mud bath;
on other days, Hippo waddles over to Pig's house for tea and chocolate doughnuts.
But when Hippo cuts down the tall hedge between their houses, they suddenly
know too much about each other. They lose the fun of surprise and the relaxation
of being alone, and they quarrel. Lambert's gorgeously detailed, messy watercolors
show what Pig sees through the window: purple Hippo flopped on his flowery
sofa chewing his toenails one by one and then drooling on the soup ladle
as he cooks. Hippo sees pink Pig stuffing herself with piles of doughnuts
and cupcakes and then falling flat on her face when she tries to dance in
a fancy tutu. Only when the hedge grows again is their friendship restored.
The combination of the gross and the subtle is exactly right for preschoolers,
who will appreciate the immediacy of the physical details as well as the
joy of being alone, the need for space.
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Kirkus Reviews , 01/01/98:
Roddie addresses the need for sanctuary by deploying that not exactly
original, but always trusty, garden hedge. Hippo and Pig are neighbors and
pals. They visit each other on alternating days, sharing doughnuts and mud
baths. Then one day Hippo trims the hedge between their homes. Pig witnesses
Hippo chewing on his toenails and slobbering into his soup pot, Hippo spies
Pig stuffing herself with pastries and then popping the buttons of her tutu.
They are so disgusted by each other that they cut off all communication.
When the hedge grows back, they can get on with their friendship--and their
minor indiscretions--again. While the story is neither clever nor groundbreaking,
it is both tender and true, and children will appreciate the finer points
made about friends and privacy--good hedges make good neighbors. Handsome
illustrations by Lambert add to the big-heartedness. (Picture book. 4-8)
-- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Card catalog description :
Hippo and his neighbor Pig are very good friends until Hippo trims the
hedge between their two houses.
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Other titles illustrated by Sally Anne include :
Sally Anne Lambert's I SPY ABC
Tess Leaves Home by Alix Nathan
The Gingerbread Man by David Wood
Jim Jam Pyjamas by Gina Wilson
Time for Bed
Hungry Bear
Email address: jol@netcomuk.co.uk
