My Friend, Loonie

Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3

A gentle story of connection and loss finds a promise in memories after a young child loses her constant companion.

With a good friend like Loonie the yellow balloon, anything is possible. From neighborhood walks to reading aloud in bed to dance parties in your room, Loonie makes each activity a little brighter, a little fuller of sunshine. But as one child discovers with sadness, when it’s time for Loonie to float away home, the sunshine goes, too. It’s not as fun to have a dance party alone. And while tending to the garden helps a little bit, the world outside the window is silent and gray. Until, one day, as flowers start to push up from the soil, big and full of hope, the memory of Loonie begins to emerge in unexpected places. With tender empathy, and charming and whimsical art by Ashling Lindsay, Printz Award winner Nina LaCour illuminates the childhood companions that bring a little magic to the world.

About the Author

Nina LaCour is the best-selling and Michael L. Printz Award–winning author of several young adult novels, including We Are Okay, Hold Still, The Disenchantments, and Everything Leads to You, as well as a novel for adults, Yerba Buena. She is also the author of Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita. Her books have won many awards and have been translated into several languages. Nina LaCour lives with her wife and their daughter in San Francisco.

Ashling Lindsay is the illustrator of several books for children, including The Night Box by Louise Greig, which was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and The Tide by Clare Helen Welsh, a Crystal Kite Award winner. She is also the illustrator of an Alan Turing biography for the best-selling series Little People, Big Dreams. Ashling Lindsay lives in Belfast, Ireland.