Rating: **** 4 stars

Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Ben Frey, photographs by Irvin Cheung,
My Friend Amy
Alanna Books, 2009.

Monifa tells us about herself and her friend Amy and the kinds of things they like to do, giving us an idea of their cultural backgrounds (Chinese and West African) en route.

The composite artwork and photography, each by a different person, accompanying this story make for a visual style that’s different but a little uneasy on the eye. White text boxes look like labels stuck on to the rather garish full-page colour visuals. The actual story, told in a conversational style by Monifa, is engaging and manages to incorporate culturally identifiable parts of the two friends’ lives into an interesting narrative based around their shared experiences of birthdays and routines, their dreams and hopes, their daily home lives. Pity that the illustrative style is a bit of a mismatch, but it might appeal to some young readers.

Urmi Chana
November 2009, No. 179

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor