LUCY AND LILA

Real friends, imaginary friends? Does it make a difference?

Lucy loves art class. One day, her teacher, Ms. Martin, tells the class to draw pictures of what they did over the weekend. They are allowed to use any materials they’d like for the pictures. Joey is worried because he had a boring weekend, but Lucy knows just what to draw. She has so many ideas that she needs extra paper, which she fills with images of a pink elephant. Stacey tells Lucy that she’s not supposed to be drawing imaginary images—just real things that happened; Lucy assures her that she is drawing what happened. The class shows their work. When it’s Lucy’s turn, they laugh at the pictures of her “new friend,” Lila the elephant: of the duo playing games, having a tea party, and chasing butterflies. Joey then shows a new picture of the blue dinosaur he met over the weekend. Ms. Martin indulges Lucy with a wink, and Joey keeps making fun of Lucy on the bus on the way home…but as the bus pulls away, a pink trunk gives Lucy a hug….Fletcher’s picture-book debut features a confident girl who doesn’t let the skeptics get her down (much). Lyles’ colored-pencil illustrations (final art not seen) offer varied views of a cartoon-realistic classroom any grade schooler will recognize, although aside from black-haired, light-brown–skinned Joey and Lucy, it’s not particularly diverse.

Nicely addresses bullying without getting nasty.