A little blue bird helps two aardvarks find each other.Aalfred and Aalbert are aardvarks. Nocturnal Aalfred "love[s] stars, broccoli, and picnics" while diurnal Aalbert "love[s] flowers, sunshine, and cheese." Both solitary creatures are happy enough, but occasionally they each wish they had a companion. A perky, curious blue bird decides to play matchmaker, trying to get the two to meet, but each attempt—a nighttime alarm, a tangle of string connecting the two—fails to draw them together. Moved by the bird's despair (though ignorant of its cause), Aalfred tries to help—and when he tumbles into Aalbert's burrow by accident in his attempt, it's happily-ever-after from then on. The simple, deadpan narrative shows flashes of laugh-out-loud moments, as when Aalbert solemnly muses, "Will I have enough cheese?" while in a room crammed full of wedges and wheels, or when the unnamed bird stoically marches around with a broccoli hat (toward signs indicating "BROKOLI" and "BEST BROLOCI") in an attempt to bring the two together. Dramatic background colors, mostly blue and orange, help distinguish between the identically endearing pink aardvarks. In other hands, the sweetness of the plot could have tipped over into cloying, but the steadfast resignation of the only-occasionally-lonely aardvarks and the bird's wordless but powerful expressiveness keep the story light, dry, and satisfying.A charming depiction of friendship and love. (Picture book. 3-7)

Opposites attract in Hood-s sweet and silly story of stumbling into companionship. Though Aardvarks Aalfred and Aalbert are similar-looking-Aalfred is rendered in friendly pink, and Aalbert, a delicate peach-the two have little in common. Aalfred sleeps during the day and enjoys -stars, broccoli, and picnics-; Aalbert sleeps at night and loves -flowers, sunshine, and cheese.- They are burrow neighbors and each sometimes think of becoming -part of a pair,- but due to schedule differences, they never meet. A small blue bird decides to play matchmaker, with humorously frustrating results, shown in Hood-s charming, bright gouache and digital art (a giant alarm clock fails to rouse one, and a trail of delectable broccoli remains unfollowed by the other). Just when the poor bird gives up, a sweet gesture by Aalfred leads to an accidental meeting between the two aardvarks, and a -happily ever aafter- ending-replete with broccoli-dipped cheese-ensues. An effective, gentle reminder that love is love. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)