ALA Booklist (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Lucy desperately wants a pet, but her mom has a litany of reasons why they can't get one eir home is too small, Grandma's allergic, etc. At the suggestion of getting a pet fish, Lucy counters, "Real pets have fur!" Later that night, a sound wakes Lucy, followed by a purring voice asking her to guess its name. Upon uttering Silvring, a ghostly cat slips through the wall and onto Lucy's bed, and the two spend the night playing and wandering the neighborhood, which is alive with others out with their secret pets. Strömgård's ethereal watercolors cast this familiar picture-book premise into a dreamlike state, where blue-tinged details swirl and bleed from one scene to the next. Lucy, a brown-skinned girl, endearingly wears skeleton pajamas and her hair gathered into two curly bunches. Silvring is translucent and changes in size to best suit their nighttime adventures, fitting for an imaginary feline. This beautiful story, full of imagination and longing, will resonate with dreamers and those yearning for pets of their own.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Transparent cat Silvring appears to a girl who longs for a real pet. Together they venture into the city night, Silvring growing with the girl's imagination as they encounter other people and their "pets." Lush watercolors in saturated blues, pinks, and greens complement the straightforward text. The combination of precise figure work with sweeping, atmospheric washes of color echoes the dynamic union of a real girl and her fantastical companion.

Kirkus Reviews

A girl discovers a world of secret pets that exists only at night in this Swedish import.When her mom says she can't have a pet—a "real" pet, with fur—narrator Lucy goes to bed disappointed. But that night, she hears scratching in the wall by her bed. A purring voice tells her to guess its name and it will come to her. She whispers, "Silvring," and a cat, who is outlined in white but otherwise invisible, crawls out onto Lucy's bed. Silvring knows just what she needs and wants to do. They go outside and climb a tree and see other people out walking their own secret pets, all of which are unusual and dreamlike: fish in the air, a polar bear, and then a huge, dangerous, pink-and-red, flying creature walked by a robed figure in a beaked plague mask. Luckily, Silvring grows big too, and she protects Lucy. They return home tired, and Silvring is gone come morning, "Because during the day, the secret animals sleep inside the walls, hidden behind the wallpaper." The watercolor-and-ink illustrations are skillfully rendered in deep blue and pink tones that effectively carry readers into Lucy's nighttime fantasy, Silvring often just a suggestion of blue daubs on lighter blue. The story's intense emotions of longing are impressively real. Lucy and her mother both present black; Lucy wears her hair in afro puffs.A satisfying story by a talented artist. (Picture book. 5-9)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The girl who narrates this story wants a pet; her mother offers fish, but fish won-t do. A scratching sound behind the wallpaper in her bedroom one night, a purr, a rending of the wall, and suddenly there-s a graceful, ghostly cat in the room: Silvring, she calls it, -the type of name you have to whisper.- A haunting adventure follows. Silvring leads the girl out into the night (she has brown skin, poufy pigtails, and sports a set of skeleton pajamas), where other humans with secret pets are taking them for walks. A winged dinosaur crosses a bridge; a gentleman strolls serenely with a shoal of floating scarlet carp. Swedish artist Strömgård illustrates her tale with intricately drafted pen-and-ink figures, giving free play to light and pattern, and returning often to the backdrop of a city overpass-a liminal gateway where life is calm by day and alien by night. Her visions are beautifully developed, portraying the narrator and the other pet owners as distinct and engaging individuals. And a dramatic confrontation and a nick-of-time rescue conjure just enough excitement for bedtime. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)