New in Publishing

"Lilly and Friends" is out, and it's glorious. I'm not a Henkes expert, so there are big gaps in my knowledge. The new omnibus taught me a few things, right away: (1) The major mice books are often spaced apart by a few years. (2) There hasn't been a landmark Henkes mouse book in several years. (3) Lilly has a significant role in many books, not just the books with "Lilly" in the title.

Take "Chester's Way," where two fastidious mice--Chester and Wilson--have a solid friendship. They enjoy certain predictable activities: daily jam-and-toast, raking leaves, adamantly refusing to pelt one another with snowballs, using hand signals while biking. Then Lilly arrives.

Flamboyant Lilly strays from the norm. She enjoys disguises, and she always carries a water gun. She cuts her sandwiches into stars and bells; she doesn't just cut on the diagonal. She exclaims, "I LOVE EVERYTHING!" And she sometimes has fruit for breakfast--not bread and jam.

Chester and Wilson avoid Lilly and her loudness, and the tension grows. But, one day, older mice approach, and they make "impolite personal remarks." Lilly--dressed as a cat--jumps from the bushes and pulls out her water gun. The older mice run away.

Newly entranced by Lilly, Chester and Wilson begin to change their ways. They add Lilly to their group. The three friends learn from one another. One might become more conservative, in certain ways; another might find himself trying bell-shaped sandwiches at lunchtime. The three share an umbrella. The three pass around sunscreen in the summer. You wouldn't be alone if you thought (incorrectly), "It was ever thus."

The use of the four seasons makes me think of Henkes's later book, "Waiting," and the splashy entrance of Lilly makes me think of Ramona Quimby--how she appeared on the sidelines in "Henry Huggins," then eventually took over her own series. (I'm not the first to compare Henkes to Cleary.)

You may have some extra "Lilly" posts in your future.....

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