Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Wed Nov 30 00:00:00 CST 2022)

A bespectacled rat asks a panda for reassurance of their friendship.While traveling through a landscape of different seasons and weather conditions, Rat poses a variety of questions to Bear, all centered on the constancy of their companionship, starting with whether they will still be friends when they are old. Bear's answer is sweet and gently humorous ("I'll even hold your tail so you don't trip over it"). Throughout, Bear pledges loyalty in sickness and health, through crankiness and loud snoring, and even through misbehavior. Finally, Rat asks the toughest question of all: "What if I have to leave and go somewhere you can't come?" Soft watercolor, ink, and pencil art features wispy, delicate linework that evokes motion, especially when winds blow the anthropomorphic pair's brightly colored umbrellas (providing early, visual hints of the anxiety behind the climactic question about the two being separated by circumstances outside their control). Bear's answer avoids being trite by acknowledging how sad separation would be and saying that they would still carry an absent Rat; Bear's gestures are especially sweet. Although Bear and Rat are still together at the end, this book would be useful for children struggling with the idea of saying goodbye to friends as well as a comfort for sensitive readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Simultaneously quietly soothing yet deeply empowering-a friendship tale for the ages. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A bespectacled rat asks a panda for reassurance of their friendship.While traveling through a landscape of different seasons and weather conditions, Rat poses a variety of questions to Bear, all centered on the constancy of their companionship, starting with whether they will still be friends when they are old. Bear's answer is sweet and gently humorous ("I'll even hold your tail so you don't trip over it"). Throughout, Bear pledges loyalty in sickness and health, through crankiness and loud snoring, and even through misbehavior. Finally, Rat asks the toughest question of all: "What if I have to leave and go somewhere you can't come?" Soft watercolor, ink, and pencil art features wispy, delicate linework that evokes motion, especially when winds blow the anthropomorphic pair's brightly colored umbrellas (providing early, visual hints of the anxiety behind the climactic question about the two being separated by circumstances outside their control). Bear's answer avoids being trite by acknowledging how sad separation would be and saying that they would still carry an absent Rat; Bear's gestures are especially sweet. Although Bear and Rat are still together at the end, this book would be useful for children struggling with the idea of saying goodbye to friends as well as a comfort for sensitive readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Simultaneously quietly soothing yet deeply empowering-a friendship tale for the ages. (Picture book. 4-8)

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 06 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 2–4 —In this tenderly written book, a wise panda bear and a trusting rat converse about their deep relationship as they journey together to a place unknown. With a simple dialogue framework as Bear responds to Rat's uncertainties, the story reveals the infinite value in the support loved ones offer. Though heartfelt and innocently posed, the questions Rat ask and the answers Bear provide are voiced as if by mature individuals, ones who can shape their feelings about the binding ties of compassion and love into poetic candor and reassurance. With Rat asking if Bear will stay even when the unexpected happens, with words intimating life events from aging to moving to sickness to dying, the quality of the questions are enough to give any reader pause. While the hearts of the characters are clear, Rat's questions carry a hint of an adult's pessimism that may mystify a child's perspective on what the story is saying about friendship. However, Bear's answers ring with sincerity and convey how connection and memories can be treasured beyond compare and will remain unbroken. Wide open spaces of blue, white, and brown surround the delicate, tilting, umbrella-toting figures of the two friends, spun with fine ink lines against the blooms of watercolor. The large, roly-poly bear and small rat are always holding hands. VERDICT The depth of love and friendship expressed by Rat and Bear is poignant in this beautifully illustrated book, though their conversation about hardships in life may prove difficult for young readers to process without an adult to provide relative perspective.—Rachel Mulligan