Rose, an amiable pig, and Billy, a sensitive goat, navigate the occasionally choppy waters of best friendship in four short chapters. In "Books," Rose favors a tall, blue volume, while Billy's choice is a fat, red one. Each character reads aloud to the other repeatedly, while both enjoy the pictures. In the second chapter, Rose longs for a rainy walk on a sunny day. In the third, Billy has a bad hair day. The final story, "Cupcakes," involves a disagreement about cupcake and icing choices for Rose's (un)birthday. In each short chapter, the two characters have a disagreement that is soon resolved in a way that satisfies them both. Beginning readers who enjoyed Billy and Rose: Forever Friends (2022) will welcome this equally charming sequel. Written with the simplicity of empathy, it makes the point that friends may not agree on everything, as long as they care about each other. Denton's gentle ink-and-watercolor illustrations portray Billy and Rose with soft, spring colors and the graceful, expressive positions and movements of dancers. A beguiling choice for beginning readers.

Gentle words and fluid watercolor-and-ink illustrations remind readers how special friendship is.Four short vignettes feature Billy, a curly-haired sheep, and Rose, a pig. The pair don't seem to agree on anything, except that they are friends. Billy prefers tall blue books, while Rose insists fat red books are best, but both get caught up in the stories and enjoy reading and rereading together. Billy and Rose disagree about whether it will rain, but when a downpour begins, both embrace the joy of walking in the rain together. When Billy thinks he's having a bad hair day, Rose agrees that his assessment is correct but reassures him that she likes him even when his hair sticks up. Neither Billy nor Rose is having a birthday, but their disagreement over what constitutes the perfect cupcake threatens to end their friendship-until they separate and reflect before coming together again. Patterns within the stories will help early readers break into reading (for example, each story begins with "Billy and Rose are having a serious discussion. The subject is…"), but what stands out is how Billy and Rose clearly and calmly verbalize their opinions and model sharing, compromise, acceptance, and respecting individual differences.A treasure trove of social-emotional skills. (Early chapter book. 4-8)

PreS-Gr 2 —Billy the sheep and Rose the pig don't seem to have much in common, but they like to have "serious discussions" about the important things in life. In the second installment of this sweet series (after Billy and Rose: Forever Friends ), the subjects of their discussions are "Books," "Hair," "Rain," and "Cupcakes," which happen to be the chapter names laid out on the contents page. Although they each have strong differing opinions (Billy prefers tall blue books and Rose prefers fat red books), they're both accepting of their differences and their friendship blossoms with compromise. The chapters are more like vignettes and can be read as stand-alone stories. The text is interspersed with watercolor-and-ink pictures on every page, making it the perfect bridge between early reader and beginning chapter book. VERDICT A calm meditation on the joys of working things out, perfect for a burgeoning reader or as a sweet read-aloud for caregiver and child, sure to enforce early elementary social-emotional skills.—Carrie Voliva