Mole Is Not Alone
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
In this cozy picture book about friendship, Mole anxiously decides to journey through underground tunnels to attend a party.
Mole is invited to a party, which is very worrisome. What if the party is too rowdy for Mole? What if Mole doesn’t know anyone there? What if Mole is just too shy to make friends? Mole worries through the tunnels, around Snake’s burrow, under the forest, past Bear’s den, and all the way to Rabbit’s door. But despite all those worries, maybe Mole can find a quiet way to make friends . . .
With warm and sweet illustrations, every page of Mole Is Not Alone is an invitation to look and look again. Readers can follow Mole’s tunnel as it connects from one page to the next, learning along the way that everyone can make friends, even if some parties are quieter than others.
An Indie Next List Pick
A Kirkus Review Best Book of 2023
A Book Page Best Book of 2023
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An invitation to a party at Rabbit's sets off an agony of indecision for Mole that will be familiar to any reader acquainted with social anxiety. Soft colors and ample speech bubbles by Tatasukawa (Sunday Pancakes) follow Mole's ruminations. "Maybe I will have fun," thinks Mole, lying in bed. A plan to make cream puffs takes shape, and Mole soon sets off along underground tunnels for Rabbit's, box in paw. Then worry takes over: "I never know what to say... it's always so awkward." The closer Mole gets to Rabbit's house, the more tension mounts as the twists and turns of Mole's path mirror the back and forth of the animal's resolve ("AHHHH! This was a terrible idea!"). Mole is not the only one who's reluctant to brave the gathering, however, and readers will share Mole's relief as another guest also acknowledges preferring a quieter time. Tiny touches in the spreads reward careful looking, from the neatly stored blueprints in Mole's cozy underground refuge to cutaways that reveal other animals' preparations—it's a story about anticipatory worry that ends not with forced revelry, but with a "Maybe... next time?" and gentle camaraderie found. Ages 4–8.
