THE NEW GIRL...AND ME
by Jacqui Robbins & illustrated by Matt Phelan
A young outsider finds a best friend in the new girl in her class. On the first day of school, narrator Mia watches intently as Ms. Becky introduces Shakeeta to the others. All the nervous new girl can think of to say is, “I have an iguana.” Mia immediately does some research on iguanas at the school library. The next day, when Shakeeta (like Mia) fails to be chosen by other students for a soccer game, a friendship is born via a discussion of iguanas, and blossoms into a best friendship, with laughter and the sharing of “Igabelle’s” care and feeding. Phelan’s pale watercolor illustrations beautifully capture the gentleness and vulnerability of his young protagonists and Robbins’s pitch-perfect prose makes this a subtle winner. (Picture book. 3-7)