School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Birt and Etho are best friends. Each day, they bring two large cardboard boxes up Sudden Hill to play. Sometimes the boxes are their pirate ships, carrying them over choppy waters. Sometimes the boxes are spaceships, launching the little astronauts into a wide, unknown universe. Between adventures, they sit on the tip tops of their boxes to watch the sky. On a cold Monday, they meet Shu, a tiny boy who has observed them from afar and wants in on the fun, too. He has a box of his own and a nice warm hat, so Birt and Etho welcome him into their fantastic world of imagination and fun. Soon, though, trouble brews. Missing the way things were when there were just two boxes, Birt becomes angry, smashes his box, and stays inside for days at a time. Lost and lonely without their third friend, Etho and Shu stop by to see Birt with no luck, until... they use their boxes to create an enormous, creature-esque box on wheels for all three friends to enjoy! Excited to take to the hill once again, the three reunited friends race up the hill in "Monster-Creature-Box-Thing." With courage and kindness, the three friends find a rhythm of their own, forming a strong new bond of friendship. Charming artwork graces each page, complementing the perfectly paced flow of the story, which is written as a free-verse poem. Whimsical, endearing illustrations make this picture book an even more charming and tender tale. VERDICT A simple yet powerful parable of two friends who have the courage to become three.-Natalie Braham, Denver Public Library © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In a story first published in the U.K. as On Sudden Hill, Birt and Etho have an idyllic friendship, their lives centered on pretend-play adventures that involve two cardboard boxes on a big hill. "Birt loves their two-by two rhythm," writes Sarah (Mi and Museum City). But when a boy named Shu shows up with a box of his own, it's too big a change for Birt, and he withdraws from the hill. With idiosyncratically named characters and simple but emotionally profound language, Sarah captures the joys and pain of a camaraderie that seems exquisitely perfect-until it isn't. She wisely doesn't lay blame on one individual, and she introduces the opportunity for a new "three-by-three rhythm" when Birt is wooed back into the fold with a new cardboard contraption. Davies (I Thought This Was a Bear Book) makes the story sing from beginning to end with lovely drawings that feel sturdy and resolutely optimistic, even when Birt is at his lowest. Surely, the images suggest, three boys with such powerful imaginations can work things out. Ages 4-8. Illustrator's agency: Bright Agency. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
