“Five animal friends seek an activity they’ll all enjoy, but it’s a challenge. . . . Gilmore combines sinuous animal contours and sandy tints into cool, graceful spreads that belie the drama to come. . . . the heroic group, having triumphed over danger, shares a proud, Three Musketeers–like air, bringing relieved readers into their number in a story that’s not for the faint of heart.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Five friends—Turtle, Badger, Anteater, Mandrill, and Owl—want to do something together . . . but finding an activity they can all enjoy is not easy. . . . Gilmore’s palette . . . is subdued and light, and . . . her characters fill the page in a way that is lively and disarming. . . . Expressive, personable, and somehow hilarious. . . . Pretty terrific, indeed, and visually marvelous.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Five disparate friends—an anteater, mandrill, badger, owl, and turtle—decide that they need an activity. But not just any old activity! It needs to be terrific. . . . Gilmore’s unusual story is playfully dark and very funny, with stylized illustrations, rendered in watercolor and pens, fabulously detailed and expressive. The net result is a book that is silly and scary and—you guessed it—absolutely terrific.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Five friends—Turtle, Anteater, Badger, Mandrill, and Owl—try to decide on a ‘terrific’ activity to do together. Each suggests something that they enjoy themselves but that, when tried by the whole group, is not a success. . . . Lush, detailed illustrations, done in watercolor and pen and ink in a muted palette of greens, browns, and grays, invite readers close to the page to focus on each character’s facial expressions and body language.” — Horn Book Magazine