The Girls
The Girls
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2019--
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Random House
Annotation: As little girls, Lottie, Leela, Sasha, and Alice share friendship and support in the shade of an apple tree, which lasts even after they grow to be adults.
 
Reviews: 2
Catalog Number: #185854
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Copyright Date: 2019
Edition Date: 2018 Release Date: 05/21/19
Illustrator: Lovlie, Jenny,
Pages: 1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN: 1-9848965-1-2
ISBN 13: 978-1-9848965-1-3
Dewey: E
LCCN: 2019015256
Dimensions: 27 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
ALA Booklist (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

An apple tree is the connecting image that runs through the story of four girls who become lifelong friends. Fair-skinned, red-headed Lottie, the adventurer, finds the tree first. Leela, who appears to be South Asian based on her later wedding attire, declares that the tree must be their secret meeting place. Sasha, with brown skin and dark curly hair, is always first on the scene when someone is hurt. Lastly there is blonde Alice, the born performer. The girls, all quite different, share their "secrets, dreams, worries, and schemes" beneath the tree. The soft, warm illustrations provide a panorama of their growth, through successes, challenges, and disagreements, but always their friendship is a constant. The four find love, experience loss, and build adult accomplishments with jobs and families. They participate in a Pride parade, showing support for one of the girls and her partner. While the book goes beyond the bounds of children's direct experience, its "girl power" message presents a reassuring view that friendships can grow, change, and shelter, just like the group's favorite tree.

Kirkus Reviews

A picture-book affirmation of female friendship.Four girls—Sasha, Lottie, Alice, and Leela—become friends in childhood. They designate an apple tree their Secret Meeting Place, and here they play and form fast bonds that sustain them through the trials, tribulations, and triumphs that mark their lives. Throughout, the text offers general statements about those life events while cheery, colorful, cartoon-style illustrations provide specificity. For example, above text that reads, "They worked hard," an accompanying illustration shows Alice in a cap and gown, jumping for joy while holding a diploma. Another scene says the girls "always took pride in their friendship" and shows them with their arms about one another and raising rainbow flags aloft as they march in a queer pride parade. This pictorial reference to queerness is extended in Sasha's subplot, when she is depicted as an adult with her arm around another woman as they gaze at a little house. Ultimately, this could read like an aspirational vision of friendship for girls, but it will likely also find a readership among women who see their own bonds reflected. Sasha appears black, with brown skin and afro-puffs; Lottie and Alice both present white; and Leela is South Asian, with brown skin and straight, black hair. Although the ostensible audience is children, this book also has gift potential among adult women.A veritable gal-entine. (Picture book. 5-8, adult)

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ALA Booklist (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)
Kirkus Reviews
Reading Level: 1.0
Interest Level: P-2

A timeless picture book for friends of all ages, The Girls celebrates kindness, supportiveness, and the power of true friendship.

Winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize Illustrated Book of the Year 2019

Meet the girls: Sasha, Lottie, Alice, and Leela.

These four best friends spend their days playing beneath the branches of their favorite apple tree. As the tree grows tall and reaches across the sky, so do they . . .

. . . growing from little girls into big girls . . .

. . . and from big girls into women!

Through their shared secrets, dreams, worries, and schemes, their friendship grows ever stronger. Even when their adventures take them in different directions, the girls always stay rooted together.

The Girls is a celebration of lasting friendship for every girl . . . big or little.


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