How Do I Like Thee? Ten Things I Love About You by Daniel Kirk

"PLEASE, RABBIT! I'M STARTING TO LOSE MY PATIENCE!" PIG PROTESTS.

"NUMBER 6! I LOVE PIG BECAUSE HE IS NOT AFRAID TO SHOW HIS FEELINGS!" RABBIT RESPONDS."

At his desk, Pig proclaims to friend Rabbit that he is busy. But Rabbit is determined to finish his list of ten things he loves about his friend Pig. The trouble is, he keeps running out of ideas and ringing the doorbell to ask for help from the subject of his list himself. Pig is appreciative of Rabbit's thought, and at first he tries gently to be helpful, encouraging him to go home and brainstorm on his own, but Rabbit is persistent. After getting up to answer the door five times, Pig could clearly live without this tribute. But, ironically, no matter what he suggests, Rabbit finds a way to turn his answer into another virtue to add to the list.

Then Rabbit notices a slip of paper Pig has dropped. It's a list of things Pig likes about Rabbit, and we see that Pig has found a way to appreciate the kind feeling behind Rabbit's peskiness.

"NUMBER 3: I LOVE RABBIT BECAUSE HE GETS SO EXCITED ABOUT THINGS!

NUMBER 7: I LOVE RABBIT BECAUSE HE NEVER GIVES UP!"

Sometimes a friend's best traits are just the flip side of their annoying ones, as author-illustrator Daniel Kirk clearly points out in his latest entry for the heart-y season, all without a single red or pink Valentine in sight. Kirk, well-known for his Library Mouse tales and his stand-alone story, Keisha Ann Can! comes up with a new cast of characters in his latest, Ten Things I Love About You (Penguin Group, 2012), a pair of best friends who have eye appeal hard to resist. Kirk's illustrative style puts the focus on the interaction between his two young animal characters, with minimal background to distract from the interplay of the personalities he portrays. As Publisher's Weekly aptly describes it, "Kirk's visual style is a departure of sorts: instead of his customary sculptural renderings, his digitally colored drawings, painted on plywood and outlined in scraggly ink, give the proceedings a warm, handcrafted feel."