“Making” Friends

Set in an apartment building in the city, 48 Grasshopper Estates by Sara de Waal and Erika Medina explores creativity and friendship.

Sicily Bridges is a creator and inventor. She can make almost anything her mind dreams up. One day she decides she wants to make a friend. She makes so many friends, using things she finds in the building’s recycling room but none of them seem to be a good fit for her. When she finds other people who are good fits for her friends she spreads joy throughout the building and also happens to find a perfect fit of her own.

48 Grasshopper Estates is a heartwarming story set in an apartment complex which we love. There are not that many stories available to children where the character lives in an apartment building. Living in the city, so many children live in these same places so it’s lovely to have a book that explores their reality. The building is filled with interesting people and Sicily shows kindness to all of them. She reuses old materials to create new things and shares joy with everyone in the building. I love how Sara de Waal uses the repeating “ratta-tatta-tat. Tatty-ratta-ratta-tat” throughout the story inviting any listeners to help tell the story along with the reader. Along with the story of Sicily, there is another story happening in the illustrations for readers to observe and make predictions, adding a wonderful extra layer to this beautiful book and foreshadowing of what is to happen with Sicily’s plan to make a friend.

48 Grasshopper Estates is a large book making it perfect for sharing as a read aloud. Children can make predicitions and see all of the creativity happening throughout the story.

The illustrations by Erika Medina are so inviting. They are filled with inventions being made by Sicily and the other character in the story. She fills the pages with colour and interesting details. Readers will be inspired to get crafty and inventive themselves so you may want to start saving your recycling.