Best friends Poppy and Clementine love being best friends. However, one day Clementine is not able to play with Poppy as they are playing with a new friend, Georgia. And, like most children, Poppy is jealous of this new friendship, especially when Clementine talks non-stop about how wonderful this new friend is and how she is better than Poppy. Almost Always Best, Best Friends shows how friendships change, grow, and even shows that sometimes even best friends can have problems and hurt each other feelings. Apryl Stott’s cute story has been told before but is fresh with the illustrations they provide.
It is the art of Stott that makes this book different. At first glance, I thought Poppy or Clementine would be the girl of the cover. But with a small twist, the tiger and llama are our two main characters. Therefore, you can take the story literally (a tiger, llama, and later, a human girl, are friends) or assume they are stuffed toys acting out the story of the young girl. Either way, the illustrations are brightly colored, happy, cute, even overly sweet at times. Nothing bad can happen since you know things will work out as nothing with that many blooms of color can be a negative!
For the adult, it probably is a bit cliched and saccharine. For the younger listeners and readers, it is just a stereotypical “girl story.” It is familiar and predictable. The younger reader will find the message (talk about your feelings, everyone can be friends, and sometimes you are better at somethings, but they can be better than you with other things) and enjoy the characters. I see a possible series, or at least additional stories in the future.
