Best Friends in the Universe

August 20, 2018
In this meta-comedy about friendship, buddies Hector and Louie are creating an entire book about their relationship (which shares the actual book’s title) and take readers along for the ride. It’s an exuberantly crayoned and markered collaboration on lined paper, filled with in-jokes (they both have fish named “Python” because their moms wouldn’t let them get snakes), a shared love of dance parties, and the sheer joy of knowing there’s somebody else on the same wavelength. But when Hector lets one of Louie’s secrets slip (it involves a milkshake and a pants-related incident), Louie retaliates with a secret of his own (Hector’s secret crush), and the partnership founders until the kids realize they’re happier together and agree to a “DO-OVER!” Pham (Stop That Yawn!) renders the protagonists as both “real-life” boys and cartoonish characters in their own story—on several spreads, both versions appear as the two draw themselves. Dialogue by Watson (Behold! A Baby) bubbles with a fun, noisy
energy—this is not a book to read aloud with your inside voice. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Carrie Hannigan, HSG Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt Literary.

Starred review from October 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-This clever book about friendship features two boys writing a book together. Though there are "five million" reasons why they are best friends, they only get to the top four-both yearn for a pet python, love jokes, and like dance parties and inventing new foods. "Here's another reason why we're best friends: We keep each other's secrets. Like how one time, Louie wet his pants after too much peanut butter toast milkshake." Louie is not very happy with his best friend for spilling that one. He retaliates by sharing a secret of Hector's, and suddenly, their book is re-purposed as the "Worst Friends in the Universe." Hurtful things are said, the book is canceled, and the friendship is over-or is it? The boys soon realize nothing is the same without a best bud. The childlike pencil and crayon illustrations, enhanced with Photoshop, are bold and full of humor, set against lined notebook paper. The two wide-eyed boys wear their emotions on their sleeves, and the text is entirely in large speech bubbles. This entertaining look at two besties who get in a fight and find their way to forgiveness will speak volumes to elementary school children without being didactic. VERDICT An important selection for all collections.-Barbara Auerbach, Cairo Public Library, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018
Hector and Louie are such great friends that they're writing a book about being best friends. This is that book.Watson offers a unique take on metafiction with this story of Louie, a black boy, and Hector, a boy who appears to be Asian, who are full of irrepressible energy and humor. Pham uses refined, clean-lined drawings to depict the real boys, while messy crayon illustrations indicate the pictures that the boys have drawn of themselves. In their book, the two friends list the reasons they are so compatible, including their mutual love of pythons, knock-knock jokes, and dancing. However, when it comes to keeping secrets, neither of them is very adept, and soon a few accidental slips devolve into a war of name-calling and insults. Illustrations show their real hands drawing kissy hearts and bawling babies in mockery, while mustaches and devil horns adorn each other's likenesses. Soon, their friendship ends, as does their co-authorship, and each begins writing his own book. The inevitable and unsurprising happy ending resolves rather quickly, but this book is not about plot. It's about the visual delight of seeing both the real and crayon versions of the characters use their joyful (or angry) energy to celebrate creativity and friendship. The raucous endpapers alone are worth the price of admission.A tried-and-true friendship story executed with creativity and verve. (Picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from October 15, 2018
Grades 1-3 *Starred Review* In a free-form literary collaboration, two young enthusiasts make a picture book about their friendship. It's a project that requires multiple title page do-overs as the two record common likes, egg each other on, and then have a falling out when an accidental revelation from Hector that Louie wet his pants once, and Louie's indignant riposte that Hector has a crush on a certain girl, escalates into a round of furious trash talk. Book cancelled, the two go off to sulk . . . only to discover that their pet fish have little interest in silly dance moves or jokes. Shrugging off the spat, the two BFFs slap hands, call for one more Do-Over! and, after a final title page, dance exuberantly off onto the endpapers. Pham illustrates their high-energy roller-coaster ride with appropriate vim, sending childlike crayon-and-marker drawings of African American Louis and Asian American (or plausibly Latino) Hector jigging and cartwheeling across ruled backgrounds, while slipping in more finished images of their faces or the occasional crayon-wielding hand coming in from the edge to give onlookers a sense of peering over their shoulders. Too soon for many readers, it's: Hey, our book is almost over! Yeah. . . but our friendship is NOT! HOORAY! (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Using crayons and markers, friends Hector and Louie create their own hand-drawn book enthusiastically laying out the "five million reasons" they're besties. In this hyper-meta tribute to both friendship and the artistic imagination, Watson captures the intensity and vulnerability of childhood friendships (the boys' suffers a temporary rift) with lively, free-flowing dialogue. Pham fills her bustling composition-book-page backgrounds with saturated colors, dynamic lines, plenty of speech balloons, and authentic childlike energy.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2018
Friends Hector and Louie, their crayons and markers at the ready, introduce themselves before we even get to this book's title page and launch into their own hand-drawn book that enthusiastically lays out the five million reasons they are true-blue besties?most notably their shared sense of humor (and love of dance parties). In this hyper-meta adventure, Pham depicts the faces of the boys exuberantly responding to the pages of their book-within-a-book, in which they draw themselves. Realizing that their book (also titled Best Friends in the Universe) doesn't capture the extent of their bond, they amend the title to read Best Friends in the Universe Forever and Ever. But things go south when the inadvertent spilling of a secret results in hurt feelings and causes a rift between the boys. They amend the title of their book again to make it read Worst Friends in the Universe, after which it gets ripped in anger, with each boy declaring he'll make his own book. This is followed by a final do-over and restoration of the friendship. Watson captures the intensity and vulnerability of childhood friendships with lively, free-flowing dialogue. Pham constructs the boys' story as if it has been drawn in a composition book, and her depictions of their drawings are infused with an authentic childlike energy. She fills her bustling spreads with vivid, saturated colors, dynamic lines, and plenty of speech balloons for the spirited dialogue yet manages to keep these busy pictures from overwhelming the eye. This vivacious tribute to both friendship and the artistic imagination is for your more energetic storytimes. To be followed by a dance party. julie Danielson

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)