My Friend May
by Julie Flett; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Greystone Kids    40 pp.
6/25    9781778401718    $19.95

In this loving tribute to the mischievous cats we encounter throughout our lives, Flett tells the “rather true story” of an unintentional adventure that separates May, a black cat, from her best friend Margaux, a young Cree girl. The two enjoy playing indoors and outdoors, together and apart, with the knowledge that May will always come home at dinnertime. But one day, May doesn’t return: Margaux and her family search high and low, but their feline friend is nowhere to be found. “They called out. But she didn’t call back, no meow.” Cree-Métis creator Flett personalizes the plot through her signature textured illustrations, adding depth and comfort to Margaux and May’s lush rural home, and with the incorporation of Plains Cree vocabulary; it’s Nitôsis, Margaux’s auntie, whose move to the city reveals what happened to May. At the same time, Flett celebrates the universality of this kind of story and concludes hers by encouraging readers who have known the stress of a missing pet—and the relieved exasperation once they’ve been found—to share their own experiences: “Do you have a story to tell? Your turn!” Back matter includes translation and pronunciation guides and an explanation of Plains Cree’s kinship terms.

From the ">May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.