A New Friend for Marmalade

by Alison Reynolds, Heath McKenzie (Illustrator)

Overview

Ella and Maddy and their adorable cat learn there’s always room for new friendships in this endearing follow-up to A Year with Marmalade.

Best friends Ella and Maddy are busy building a playhouse, with Marmalade lazing around nearby. Suddenly Toby, the boy from across the street, zooms by with his red cape and ruins everything. So then they decide to build some sandcastles. Swoosh! Toby cartwheels through, his cape destroying the castles. Ella and Maddy don’t want Toby around, but Marmalade seems to be warming up to him. And when Marmalade gets stuck in a tree, guess who comes to the rescue?

Continuing the wonderful theme of friendship that began with A Year with Marmalade with simple, effective text from Alison Reynolds and charming, one-of-a-kind illustrations from Heath McKenzie, this is a beautiful story about accepting others and tolerating those who may be different from us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481420464
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	07/22/2014
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 6 Years

About the Author

Alison Reynolds has written more than forty books. When she was young, she was lucky enough to live next door to her two best friends. She also had a fluffy black cat named Charlotte. Alison lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Heath McKenzie is a bestselling illustrator from Melbourne, Australia, who owned a cat when he was very young. Now he has a small dog that behaves an awful lot like a cat and even fancies fish for dinner.

Editorial Reviews

2014-04-16
A little boy who disrupts the play of two girls and their pet cat finds redemption but no real consequences.The opening verso sports a wavy line of stylized lettering: "Ella, Maddy, and Marmalade were best friends." On the recto, the cartoonlike girls and orange cat, all with eyes closed in contentment, trot across a bare white background, nicely inviting readers to turn the page. At the turn, the girls are building a playhouse as "Toby, the boy from across the road, joined in." Children will enjoy this understatement as they view the resultant havoc. Although Toby shows no malice, he also shows little remorse as he thrice destroys the collaborative sandbox creations of Maddy and Ella. With maddeningly stereotypical gender norms, the girls show both restraint and passive-aggressiveness in reaction to Toby's behavior. All three children are wide-eyed, pen-and-ink moppets, with the girls in dresses and Toby wearing a superhero's cape. Marmalade is a cutesy, large-headed cat who infuriates the girls by taking a fancy to Toby. When Toby frightens Marmalade up a tree, his cape then provides a means of rescue, and the next day, all three children and the cat play together happily. The artwork and layout are reminiscent of a mid-1970s aesthetic, an odd environment for a theme that seems to value individualistic, destructive behavior over collaborative, creative play.This will resonate with parents who are in denial about their progeny's consistently disruptive behavior. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews