WALTER HAD A BEST FRIEND

Walter’s best friend is Xavier. They share a companionable friendship—until one day, they don’t.

Walter, a mouse, and his best friend, Xavier, a tall bird, spend quiet times together doing things like floating on a boat under sunny skies. Just as quietly, however, their friendship peters out as Xavier meets Penelope and their friendship no longer feels the same. Walter finds himself at first angry and then alone with “just a big hole in his heart where Xavier used to be. It felt like the hole would be there forever.” One morning, when the sun quietly makes its way into Walter’s house, he knows it’s time to go out and face the world. He decides on a hike but doesn’t take the same old path he took with Xavier; he tries a new trail. Along the way he meets Ollie, a badger, and as they walk together, it looks like the beginning of a new friendship. Soft pastel colors match the meditative tone of the spare yet poignant text. This tender, sensitive story speaks to the pain of losing a friendship, validating sadness but emphasizing that there is a way ahead. Perceptively, Underwood recognizes, too, that not all friendships end with fights or drama and that drifting apart slowly can feel just as raw. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gentle story of friendships lost and gained and life moving on.