Written by Troy Wilson
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-4257-1
32 pp.
Ages 3–5
May 2026
When a dog makes a new friend in the park, he can't help but compare her to his old friend. But is that really fair? After all, maybe his new friend has different stuff to offer.
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| From Still Friends, written by Troy Wilson, illustrated by Mike Deas |
When we first meet this adorable beagle, he's with a
wonderfully quirky woman with a red ball cap who plays with him, speaks
to him, walks him on a long retractable leash, and gives him treats and
lots of scratches. But his new friend is a little different. She sits
stoically on a bench-like plinth, never speaking and never moving. Just
"stone-cold silence."
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| From Still Friends, written by Troy Wilson, illustrated by Mike Deas |
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| From Still Friends, written by Troy Wilson, illustrated by Mike Deas |
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| From Still Friends, written by Troy Wilson, illustrated by Mike Deas |
Even though Troy Wilson likes to play with words, adding some humour to a story about accepting friends as they are, Still Friends asks readers to reflect on their own friendships, just as this beagle has. Because he has done so, through observation and with insight, his life is richer for his awareness. That same lightness and delicacy with a shade of circumspection comes through in Mike Deas's artwork which was created with pastel and pencil crayons with ink outlines. As in his many books in the Scholastic Canada Biography series (written by Elizabeth MacLeod), the early reader Two Tales of Twenty-Six: Liam and the Letters, Walter and the World (written by Stephanie Simpson McLellan, 2024), and his own Sueño Bay Adventures with Nancy Deas), Mike Deas gives us texture and life, even in a story that has to balance brightness with gravitas. He is an illustrator whose style can give us the playfulness but with a sheen of weight in the messaging. It's that same juxtaposition of the beagle's two friends that shows up in Mike Deas's art and complements Troy Wilson's story so well.
Next time your child or a student is struggling with friends and wondering if they can be friends with others, give Still Friends a read. It will help them understand that there are many friends out there and by appreciating our differences, including our own imperfections, it will help us establish rock-solid relationships, not just win popularity contests.
