Peter Carnavas, Leo and Ralph, University of Queensland Press, February, 2024, 276 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702266218
Leo feels like a square peg in a round hole; he never seemed to fit neatly into the jigsaw puzzle of other kids.
At Prep school, he keeps to himself, finding the games the other kids play confusing and frightening. Leo loves space: as in outer space and all things to do with planets, stars, UFOs and aliens. When he tries to talk to his peers at school, they don’t have the patience to listen to his awkward speech and run away to play rough and tumble with their friends. He is obviously a dreamy kid. (Leo’s) prep teacher had to repeat her questions because his eyes were often fixed on a corner of the room, watching a spider weave its web, or a raindrop wriggle down a window.
His caring parents are concerned that he doesn’t have any friends and try to make suggestions that will help him, which only make him feel guilty that he is worrying them. Until the morning a white balloon bumps into his house and deposits a strange shaggy creature into his bedroom. Leo knows instantly that mum’s wish had come true and that this alien was going to be his best friend.
Leo does everything with his new friend Ralph. They make up games to play together, watch the stars at night together, and Leo doesn’t feel alone anymore. His family accepts that Leo has ‘an imaginary friend’ and assumes that he will grow out of him, when the time is right.
When Leo’s Mum is offered the position as Principal at a school in a small country town, the family will have to move and he is told it’s time to say goodbye to Ralph. He will be starting Year 4 and this is the perfect opportunity to start afresh and make friends at his new school.
Leo struggles to let go of Ralph, and can’t see the opportunity to make a real friend in Gus, a boy who also doesn’t fit in. Gus asks Leo, “I don’t know much about space. What do you like about it?” This huge kid had a way of asking questions that Leo wanted to answer, like he was offering a perfect peach you just had to bite into.
This is a delightful book about accepting yourself, and finding a special friend who accepts you, just the way you are. Leo is surrounded by supportive family and teachers, who allow him the space to find his own way towards growing up and making friends. The illustrations help support the text, particularly when describing something unusual, for example Ralph (an alien!) or a tall water tower which would be unfamiliar to a young reader.
Highly recommended.
The publisher provides detailed teachers’ notes.
No age recommendation is provided by the publisher, however the teachers’ notes suggest it is suitable ‘as a read-aloud for younger readers and an independent text for middle readers’.
Reviewed by Gaby Meares