What If? You and Me by Susan Verde

Lovers love recalling "How We Met!" Romantic comedies love the "cute meet" scene where something serendipitous produces that certain spark. Songs celebrate that "Some Enchanted Evening," when "I Saw You Standing There" moment. Even best friends almost always remember how they first got together and why they became lifelong buddies.

What if that magic moment hadn't happened at all?

IF THAT DAY HAD CHOSEN A DIFFERENT WAY TO UNFOLD,

OURS IS A STORY THAT MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN TOLD.

A devoted pair of friends, two angular, long-limbed cats, recall the many unforeseen events that had to happen (or not happen) in order for them to meet.  What if the orange-striper had slept late, or if he'd lingered longer in the shower? What if his clock had been slow and he'd gotten there too late?

OR IF I HADN'T GONE BACK FOR MY HAT?

For without that hat, they would never have met at the bus stop, just at the right moment for a chance breeze to blow his boater away and for the other cat to catch it. Things click between them, and it's...

FOREVER FRIENDS, YOU AND ME!

Susan Verde's and Peter H. Reynolds' latest is one of those serendipitous collaborations.  You and Me (Abrams Books, 2015) offers Verde's rhyming couplets and Reynolds' utterly charming illustrations in a perfect pairing of picture book crafting. With their cats' tails entwined on the cover, the reader can tell that this friendship was meant to be, brought together by "that tug, that mysterious tether" that sometimes brings two together. Peter Reynolds provides the whimsical artwork (done in ink, gouache, watercolors, and, improbably, tea) that makes this book irresistible for all ages.

Author Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds are also the co-creators of The Museum.