Tim's Big Move

When Tim’s parents announce that the family is moving, it’s not Tim who’s worried; it’s his “best cuddle buddy,” Nico -- a stuffed animal of undetermined (but very cute) species. Nico is not tempted by the new location’s better climate, nearness to the sea, and roomier house, and he’s particularly opposed to the idea of new friends. He wants Tim all to himself. So Nico is terribly jealous when, after the move, Tim starts kindergarten and meets Hannah -- until Hannah introduces Tim and Nico to her cuddle buddy, Emma. The four new friends “have lots of fun and don’t want to go home.” The book’s messages -- that change can be good; that making new friends doesn’t mean you lose the old -- are hardly original, but attributing the emotions to the child protagonist’s stuffed animal rather than to the child adds a new twist, and that little distance may aid young readers in need of reassurance who are facing a similar situation. (Other readers will simply be charmed by the adorable Nico.) Illustrator Eriksson (A Crash Course for Molly, rev. 5/05) makes Nico a veritable showcase of expressiveness, capturing in warm colored-pencil drawings his initial resistance and worry (as well as his eventual relief and happiness) in the set of an ear, the slant of an eyebrow, or the slump of a shoulder. martha v. parravano