School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-This title provides an excellent springboard for conversations about friendship. Ruby and Henry are best friends-most of the time. Each one knows exactly what the other wants for birthdays. They easily fall into balance and choose complementary roles when playing pirates. They also know how to push each other's buttons, by sharing secrets when they know they shouldn't. Ruby is jealous when Henry swims well and she sinks in the pool. Despite all of this, they know their young lives wouldn't be the same without the other. When they are angry or apart, they miss all the wonderful character traits the other brings to the relationship. Ruby is a leader, always willing to try new things. Henry is the sturdy, reliable one and admires how she makes everything fun. Joosse uses some of the text in a dialogue format, the characters responding as if they were being interviewed, providing this picture book with a pre-chapter-book feel. Sections are loosely separated by a rhyme. Lively watercolor illustrations express the children's moods and provide vibrancy to the theme. Teachers and librarians will enjoy sharing this title with groups, and children can read it independently.-Anne Beier, Hendrick Hudson Free Library, Montrose, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Friendship does not have to be a 24/7 lovefest: that's the important lesson behind this sometimes preachy and visually unremarkable book. With the exception of some singsong odes to each other, most of the text takes the form of alternating monologues by BFFs Henry and Ruby ("Usually we're friends, but sometimes we're unfriends"), with each child alternatively singing joys of collaboration ("In circus, I'm the ringmaster and Ruby's the lion tamer), kvetching ("He told my secret... to a boy!" grouses Ruby after she shares her crush on a classmate with him), and worrying about the constancy of affections ("What if Ruby finds another best friend?"). Unfortunately, Joosse's (Roawr!) text relies a bit too heavily on the "kids say the darnedest things" mentality ("Yesterday, I had gruffly thoughts") and Milian, making his debut, contributes vignettes that show a wide range of emotions and activities, but don't quite escape the safe, frisky feeling of a well-meaning textbook. While the necessary ups and downs of friendship will be recognizable to readers, neither text nor art truly evokes the depth of emotions at play. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
