August 1, 2017
Gr 2-5-In this fifth installment centered on best friends Dani and Ella, the young girls are surprisingly reunited. During her school's field trip to the zoo, Dani has strict instructions not to get separated. When Dani spots Ella with another school group, she and Ella pair up to embark on an adventure. Realizing they have been missed, the girls work hard to evade capture so they can spend more special time together. Lagercrantz has the ability to create genuine voices in both girls and other characters, including Ella's father and his girlfriend, Sophie. As with the prior titles, Dani and Ella grapple with realistic emotions, including jealousy, sadness, and joy. The overarching theme of friendship comes through strongly as the girls worry about being separated again. Translated from Swedish, this pleasant offering features Eriksson's distinctive black-and-white drawings. VERDICT Another gem in a sweet series. Though it doesn't have the flash and glitter of other, more popular chapter books, the fully realized characters in these titles will make a lifelong impression on young readers.-Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from July 1, 2017
The fifth installment in the Swedish early chapter series featuring Dani, a young white girl. Dani is starting second grade, and although she still misses her "best friend in the whole world," Ella (who has moved), she is overjoyed that her father, Gianni, has returned home after a summer of hospitalization following an accident. She is also looking forward to the class trip to Skansen Zoo. But at Skansen, two of Dani's classmates tell her she looks like the monkeys, and Dani runs off. Lo and behold, she runs into Ella, whose unruly class is also visiting. The two sneak off to play, and Dani realizes that Ella is unhappy in her new class, which makes Dani unhappy. Lagercrantz expertly and respectfully weaves themes of moving on, resilience, and friendship; Eriksson's black-and-white illustrations give heart and warmth. (In the illustrations, everyone's skin is the white of the paper, but racial differences are hinted at in facial features and hair.) The beauty and magic of these books is that, while they are full of sweetness, they embrace reality. Dani is not ready to let Sadie, the nurse her father fell in love with over the summer, into her life and acts out. And Dani's maternal grandmother (Dani's mother died five years earlier) sides with Dani, a sophisticated insertion that is in line with Dani's (and presumably, readers') growing maturity. A story about making life whole--that's also really funny. (Fiction. 5-8)
COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
January 1, 2018
On her zoo class trip, Dani runs into Ella; overjoyed, the long-distance best friends go exploring together before being separated again. Although Dani acts upset that her father's girlfriend joins them for dinner that evening, she's really just worried that Ella is now sad. This continuing early-chapter-book series (�cf2]My Happy Life�cf1], et al.) once again tenderly tackles real-kid problems, supported by the emotion-filled line drawings.
(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)