I loved the book Sylvia and Bird. The main thing that I liked about this book was the illustrations. The watercolor paintings were incredible and draw the reader into the story. On the second page, the illustrator made the background almost look like clipart, but it shows the setting, and the way Sylvia felt at that time. I also thought it was clever how Sylvia was painted blues and greens, showing that she was lonely, and Bird was yellow, indicating that s/he made Sylvia happy.

The other thing that I liked about this book was how the text literally flowed. On a few pages, the words were actually positioned to show deeper meaning. For example, when it said “Off they set, racing up through the clear blue skies,” the words were placed on an incline. Another example of this was when the author said, “Suddenly she began to tumble… down down down through the clouds.” The words on this page were double spaced and moved in a downward motion, giving the text even more effect.

The central message of the book was that unlikely friends may be the best friends. In the beginning, Sylvia was very lonely until she met Bird. Then Bird found other birds, and Sylvia decided that it was best for birds to be friends with birds; however, that wasn’t the case. Sylvia realized “she didn’t need other dragons to be happy. The best friend in the world was loving, loyal Bird.” Friends don’t have to be the same as you; it’s actually best when friends are diverse, because you can learn from each other. ( )

A lonely dragon, living on a high mountaintop, unexpectedly finds a friend in Sylvia and Bird, a gentle tale touching upon issues of companionship and belonging. When Sylvia, who has never found another dragon with whom to commune, meets Bird, she experiences the joy of friendship for the first time. Together, she and her tiny yellow companion go swimming, forage for food, and build a nest. But although they spend time together every day, "just like friends do," Sylvia still sometimes feels sad and alone. After all, Bird has other birds with whom she belongs, unlike Sylvia, who seems to be the only dragon around. Is it possible that Sylvia might find other dragons on the moon? And is it worth the price she (and Bird) might pay, to find out...?

With such a wealth of "friendship stories" available to the picture-book reader, many of them quite well-illustrated, it must be difficult for a children's author to create one that stands out from the crowd. Fortunately, Catherine Rayner - who recently contributed her lovely watercolor/pencil-crayon illustrations to Linda Newbery's Posy - manages to do just that with Sylvia and Bird. Her simple, straightforward text, paired with expressive artwork, evokes a wealth of underlying emotion, from the melancholy of solitude to the joy of shared activity. Although her narrative is never marred by any sort of didacticism, it manages to suggest the ideas that friendship cannot banish every kind of sorrow, that our friends can't always come with us, on our journeys of discovery, and that choosing to pursue one path often requires abandoning another.

Quite a heavy message for a sweet little picture-book to carry, but Sylvia and Bird does so with aplomb! I will be looking for more from Ms. Rayner... ( )