My Best Friend Tilly

‘I live here’ declares our picture book protagonist. ‘My best friend Tilly lives over there. I wish she would come and play. Imagine if ….’ And so the story grows as more and more excitements are imagined to make the perfect play date. The pages get ever more crowded until even they outgrow the book and extend upwards. Now we have everything – but wait – where is Tilly? The observant young reader will have noticed that Tilly has been squeezed out; Tillyland, so lovingly created, has no room for Tilly.

Full of humour and with a voice that speaks directly to her audience, Iris Samartzi subtly reminds young readers that friendship does not require a plethora of gadgets, objects – or even animals real or imagined. In the end a game of ball between two friends is all that is needed. The effect is immediate – the images are uncluttered and direct, artfully set against a white background that will gradually become full of ideas. Using nothing but simple lines Samartzi creates two little girls who have real character: the enthusiasm of one, the anxiety of the other. The pages then fill with colour as the children’s imagination runs riot – until the final spread where all that is required is a white double page spread, two small girls linked by a small red ball and one word. There may be an underlying lesson, but this is a picture book that is fun and distinctive in its visual impact. Highly recommended.