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PRESCHOOL
Adamson, Ged

Scribbly

40 pp. | HarperCollins/Harper | June, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-267082-3 $17.99
(2) PS There's plenty to do when a girl and her mother move to a new town, but after the novelty wears off, without a friend things get boring fast. Enter Scribbly, an imaginary stick dog drawn by our self-sufficient protagonist. "Scribbly was the bestest friend anyone could ask for." When the girl is invited to a birthday party where she doesn't know anyone, her mother tells her to leave Scribbly at home, but she "really really needed him." Scribbly not only attends but is the life of the party, nibbling cake, doing backflips, and befriending everyone. In short, he makes "being the new kid much easier." Pencil and watercolor illustrations combine the kid-art representation of Scribbly with the more realistic goings-on. Astute readers may pick up on the mother's facial expressions and develop a more nuanced interpretation of the girl's reliance on the imaginary friend to assuage anxiety and doubt. When she adopts a real dog from a shelter, the girl bridges the gap between the imaginary and real worlds and boosts her self-confidence. Scribbly is still around, but she's no longer dependent on him. Dogs, whether real or imagined, are a girl's best friend in this book that may soothe social anxieties over being the new kid.
Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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