School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2As in Seeds (Houghton, 1994), this author-illustrator team has captured a friendship glowing with warmth and creativity. When Squirrel pulls Mole's giant Valentine from his snowy mailbox, he realizes that he has forgotten this special day. Panic-stricken, he races around collecting art supplies, planning a more and more elaborate Valentine. As with many an aspiring artist, Squirrel is stymied when he loses his scissors. In the process of looking for them, he finds one of Mole's mittens and various other mementos of their times together, and he is back in high gear. He runs from room to room, gluing each souvenier in place. As the story progresses, readers see Mole's steady progress across the snow, informing them that Squirrel is running out of time. Mole's slow plodding provides an interesting contrast to Squirrel's frenetic activity and is a telling detail about the ``opposites attract'' aspect of their friendship. The pals spend a pleasant afternoon by the fire, eating cake and telling ``all the stories nobody knows but us.'' A Valentine story about friendship is much more satisfying than those that try to bring adult themes of ``true love'' to a child's level. Shannon's tale may inspire children to document their memories of their own special relationships.Lisa S. Murphy, formerly at Dauphin County Library System, Harrisburg, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
