cover image A Friend Like You

A Friend Like You

Tanja Askani, . . Scholastic Press, $16.99 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-545-05851-3

Askani runs an animal refuge/rehab center out of her home in Germany, and the unlikely and almost criminally adorable friendships that have sprung up among the inhabitants are the subject of this book. Many of Askani's photographs depict some kind of nuzzling (a piglet bumps noses with a puppy; a dormouse seems to steal a kiss from a turtle) but other images fall into the “critters do the darnedest things” category (a pointer sits placidly as a song thrush perches on his head; a rabbit seems to stick out his tongue to tease a hedgehog). That the accompanying text, usually set within swoopy boxes opposite the photos, never rises above the level of a greeting card (“Being friends is easy... when the friends are you and me,”) is beside the point: readers will supply text of their own, certain to coo and say “aww” every time they turn the page. They'll also pore over the closing section, which gives the names and histories of all of the animals featured. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)