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Summary
Summary
Laugh-out-loud letters enhance this endearingly quirky story about repairing a friendship.
Raymond and Nelda are the best of friends. They make up funny songs and share chocolate-covered strawberries. They like to play ball and they always laugh at each other's jokes. But one day, Nelda twirls for Raymond and falls down. Raymond laughs at her. "Some friend!" says Nelda. Now the two aren't speaking. But life isn't nearly as much fun without a best friend to share it with. It's up to Florence the mail lady to deliver some important letters that might just help Nelda and Raymond make up and be best friends once again.
Author Barbara Bottner's quirky story of a friendship that gets off track will resonate with readers as they negotiate the highs and lows of their own relationships. Nancy Hayashi's illustrations colorfully capture the appeal of the characters and the charm of the story.
Author Notes
Raymond and Nelda are the best of friends, so when their relationship gets off track, they must find a way to reconnect.
Raymond and Nelda make up funny songs and share chocolate-covered strawberries. They like to play ball and they always laugh at each other's jokes. But one day, Nelda twirls for Raymond and falls down. Raymond laughs at her. "Some friend!" says Nelda. Now the two aren't speaking. But life isn't nearly as much fun without a best friend. It's up to Florence the mail lady to deliver some important letters that might just help Raymond and Nelda make up and be friends once again.
Barbara Bottner's quirky story of loving if tempestuous friendship explores the highs and lows of relationships.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A misunderstanding between friends almost ends a close relationship. Raymond, a squirrel, and Nelda, a rabbit, share many interests: they love to tickle one another, toss a ball back and forth, and eat chocolate-covered strawberries. One day, Nelda decides to twirl for her friend, loses her balance, and falls down. Raymond finds this extremely funny and can't help but laugh, hurting her feelings. The two part company, and the rest of the story tells about Raymond's good-hearted but clumsy attempts to soothe his pal's wounded pride. His letters to her produce further confusion, which almost ruins their friendship permanently. Watercolor, pen, and colored-pencil illustrations vary in size from spreads to framed vignettes placed on top of larger pictures. The drawings clearly tell the story and reveal the anger, sadness, and happiness that are part of this duo's relationship. Pair this book with Margaret Chodos-Irvine's Best Best Friends (Harcourt, 2006), another tale of friendship and ruffled feathers.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Squirrel Raymond and rabbit Nelda are best friends--until he laughs at the wrong time. Nelda misinterprets each of Raymond's olive-branch notes, but their letter carrier helps broker a truce. There's something pleasingly old-fashioned about a story devoted to a topic as unglitzy but universal as hurt feelings, and Hayashi's world of anthropomorphized animals is inviting. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Bottner's story of a friendship that has hit a snag is a very mild affair, as it doesn't present any new pathways to explore in this already heavily scrutinized terrain. What it does deliver is a healthy dose of sincerity, pure and simple. Raymond and Nelda are the best of chums. They dance and sing and fool around all the day long. One afternoon, Nelda attempts a twirl for Raymond. She gets dizzy and falls. Raymond laughs, which gives Nelda the fantods; he's laughing at her, not with her. Raymond thinks she's overreacting. Who, after all, threw his ball into the lake in a fit of pique? They are miserable apart, but too proud to reconcile until Florence, their letter carrier, suggests a tool of peace. Even though the scheme appears not to work at first, the story, along with art by Hayashi, gives an easy grasp of both sides of the misunderstanding, and provides a way out for any reader in the same fix. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Following in the great tradition of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad, this story is about two animal friends who quarrel and are miserable until they make up. In Hayashi's clear watercolor, pen, and colored-pencil illustrations, the plump, awkward characters wear clothes and act like children, their body language as expressive of their anger and longing as their words. Underlying the fight is their bond (Raymond and Nelda understood each other so well that sometimes they didn't need to say anything ), but the standoff is the drama: Raymond laughs at Nelda when she twirls and falls, so she tosses his ball into the water. Then they are lonely. The mail carrier helps them, but, at first, the notes they write just add more misunderstanding. When they finally make up, however, they are closer than ever. The intense feelings are elemental, and the scenarios are part of every preschooler's world. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2007 Booklist