When you have a best friend who gets you, you always want to be with them. But what happens if your best friend is also someone else’s? Well, that would be a slightly different story than This Book Is My Best Friend, but when two kids in a library find their best friend, a special book about robots and mice, they both want to take it out. But there are two of them, and only one book. As they try and convince the other why they should have the book (one child feels less alone, and their mom, when she’s feeling better, can do the voices; the other can have quiet no matter what mischief their baby twin siblings are getting up to). There is a message in the book that the two might be able to act on in real life, but will they figure it out?
Robin Robinson has a cute story. I am not sure how the publisher copy knew the names of the two children (I did not see their names, or I missed their being presented to the reader), but hey are Sunny and Aarush. Sunny is a little bit male presenting (is a bit more aggressive, likes robots) but easily could be female or nonbinary. This, along with the story theme makes this a contemporary look at issues that we know, problem solving, sharing, making friends, the busy lives we have that books help us escape from.
Robinson’s art is sweet, cute, funny. There are hidden items in them hat allows you to have a bigger picture of things (such as you will see the children’s parents only you might not realize at first, and the father of Sunny is a ponytail, reusable bag using kind of person). They are minimal, but as said, there are details. The colors are neat and allow for action and to be cozy, even if they are brighter at times. And one of my favorite parts of the story is the side story that happens in the illustrations. There is a mermaid story time being set up. Now, me being me, wanted it to be a drag queen mermaid story time, but guess I can’t have it all! (Robinson, there is your next book. Just give me a nod in the dedication.)
