A New Friend for Marmalade by Alison Reynolds (review)

Friends and neighbors Ella and Maddy, and their shared cat, Marmalade, are enjoying some outdoor summer playtime, until Toby, the boy across the road, joins in. Unfortunately for the girls, Toby’s energetic activity ruins their fort and then the sand castle they are building, but he and Marmalade seem to get along fine. When a sudden soaking from lawn sprinklers sends Marmalade up a tree, where he dangles from a cracking branch, it’s Toby who convinces Marmalade to jump to safety, landing in Toby’s outstretched superhero cape. The next day the kids and cat have a new game, inspired by Toby’s heroics, and they all, “even Marmalade,” prance about in capes. The text and pictures make it clear that Toby isn’t destroying the girls’ play maliciously, but that he is just impulsive and active; while the girls’ quick acceptance of him post-fort-destruction doesn’t totally ring true, the story has an easy charm that will draw young listeners. McKenzie’s art is eye-catching, as tidy yet elaborately drafted black and white line drawings are accented with watercolor-like patches of color against stretches of clean white space. The bigeyed kids and cuddly-looking Marmalade (who somewhat resembles a stuffed toy tiger) are pretty appealing, and kids who enjoyed meeting the girls and their cat in A Year with Marmalade will probably want to see what they are up to here.