The art, created with ink, watercolors, and soft pastels, sensitively portrays the characters' emotions while depicting their lively neighborhood. A heartening picture book on a timeless topic: making friends. --Booklist (starred review) Castillo's tale persuades without sounding prescriptive, and her signature artwork highlights both a close, transformative bond, and the way that new connections made voluntarily can ease upheaval. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Castillo's ink, watercolor, and soft pastel illustrations show the girl's budding courage: at first she's always glued to Mom, but with every encounter her face and posture relax more until she finds herself smiling and even waving hello. filled with robust colors, cleverly helps young audiences focus in on minute but crucial changes in facial expression and body language. --The Horn Book Castillo's signature thick-lined, textured art creates cozy neighborhood settings that beautifully accentuate this gentle story about the power of connection. With the endpapers acting as establishing shots, the illustrations--mostly double-page spreads with plenty of white space--feel almost cinematic in their slice-of-life perspectives. Careful readers might notice a few easter eggs hidden in the illustrations throughout, including some of Castillo's other books and the black dog that eventually becomes Millie's friend.

A sweet, child-centered tribute to fur babies everywhere. --Kirkus Reviews Caldecott Honor winner Castillo's vibrantly colored ink, watercolor, and pastel drawings add texture and life to every detail. The quiet story is given life by its drawings' dynamic use of space, ranging from full-page, wordless scenes to smaller vignetted moments to a particularly sweet introduction to Millie. Millie's constantly wagging tail makes this story a hopeful read-aloud for any family whose members struggle with shyness. --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.