Friends

by Geraldo Valério

When a girl and a frog go to the beach to fish, they are frustrated to find that the fish aren’t biting. Instead, they stare into the water and make faces at their reflections. Then, something spectacular happens. The reflections take on lives of their own, transforming into a mermaid with her own pet frog. Surprise gives way to delight as they invite the girl and the frog to enter a stunning underwater world. The new friends swim and play amongst colorful sea creatures until they discover a pair of glowing pearls and turn them into matching necklaces.

Readers are brought along on a joyful aquatic adventure in this third wordless picture book from Geraldo Valério. Each page is a visual treasure trove full of fish and bubbles and other underwater details. Young readers will especially enjoy following the frogs’ adventures in this celebration of friendship and imagination.

Genres: Picture Books, Mermaids, Friendship, Fantasy, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

Published March 5, 2019

About the author

Geraldo Valerio’s work as an author and illustrator has been published in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Portugal, France, the United Kingdom and China.

Geraldo lives in Toronto, Canada. He attended university in Brazil, receiving a bachelor’s degree in drawing from Federal University of Minas Gerais. He earned a Master of Arts degree from New York University in 2000.

Reviews

[The Library Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Splendid colors and charming sea life are ruined for me here by the human or sort of humans--there's a gender ambiguous hero/heroine and a mermaid. Human and mermaid have identical faces, huge heads and long skinny bodies and just look plain weird. I'm not much for wordless books to begin with, and I'm not sure if whatever review I read that convinced me to buy this mentioned that fact. Truthfully, I'm wondering if another branch purchased this and it was sent to me by mistake...

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very shocked to read the description of this book after the fact and find the main character described as a girl. I thought the kid was intentionally gender ambiguous, but I guess not (gotta make sure I haven't added it to any lists...)! No mindblowing action or creative prompts for the reader, but it's a cute wordless story about a girl playing with her reflection, a mermaid.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was... different. A girl is on the edge of a body of water with a frog, and they are making faces at the water and seeing their reflections... until it is not actually their reflections. A wireless picture book. Creative idea.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of weird book, but the kids I read it to seemed to like it.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

These illustrations are bright and colorful. Don't forget to look at the frog too.

[Kids Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

a book with no words, the picutres didnt hold my kids (age 2-7) attention page after page

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wordless book

[Panda Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

The vibrant colors are appealing, but this wordless picture book has little to no story conveyed through the pictures, and doesn't appeal to me.

[Le Maistre Chat · Rating 1 out of 5]

My under-3 daughter grabbed this off a library shelf when it was time to leave. Only after we'd checked it out and carted it home did we find out that it's wordless. Disappointed.