The Word for Friend

June 1, 2020
Kindness is a universal language. Kemala, an optimistic, talkative pangolin, has moved to "her new town" and anticipates meeting new friends. Her curiosity and interest in her new environment are tinged with anxiety and ambivalence about joining a new school because of "a language Kemala didn't know." With trepidation, humor, and help from anteater classmate Ana, Kemala discovers a connection through puppetry. Meanwhile, her hide thickens as she tackles Esperanto, the "foreign" language used among this assemblage of animal characters drawn from different continents. The focus on a fundamentally global language spoken by creatures from diverse habitats conveys a utopian-yet-accessible vision in which no one is an outsider. In featuring an echidna, a red fox, an owl, a raccoon, a skunk, and a numbat sharing the classroom with a pangolin, for example, while crafting Indonesian-style shadow puppets of other animals (tiger, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, and penguin), the illustrations emphasize the power of imaginative role play. With everyone's exuberant encouragement, Kemala overcomes her shyness and stage fright to find her new voice. A concluding note explains Esperanto and provides translations of the dialogue as well as offering further information on pangolins. Readers with familiarity with Southeast Asia may recognize Kemala's name as Indonesian or Malaysian. Delightful and heartwarming, this read-aloud performs like a welcoming embrace. Brava, amiko! (Picture book. 4-8)

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