RIKA SAVES A CAT

An alien girl finds an unexpected new friend while playing with her sister in Lamar and Liana Golden’s picture book.

On a faraway, Earth-like planet named Venesha live two young sisters: Rika, the elder, and Jari, roughly preschool-age (the girls are fair-skinned and appear human). The two love to climb trees and play hide-and-seek together in the planet’s northern forest region. One day, instead of finding her hiding sister, Rika stumbles across a kitten concealed inside of a hollow log. The kitten immediately takes to her, and the two go off in search of Jari: “Rika called out to her sister. ‘Jari, come out! Look what I found!’ Jari appeared from behind a tree. ‘Poor thing!’ she said. ‘Where is her mommy?’ ” Rika doesn’t know, so the two sisters wait for a solution to appear. This picture book is cute and quiet, best for readers who prefer a calmer story. While it establishes a central conflict, it fails to deliver a satisfying resolution that ties the narrative together as a whole, and it isn’t clear why exactly the story is set on an Earth-like planet instead of Earth itself. Guarino’s illustrations depict scenery awash in twilight blues and purples that reflect the dissociation of feeling lost and provide contrast to the characters’ warmer tones.

A calm, beautifully illustrated picture book that lacks a strong narrative arc.