The charming Violet Mackerel must overcome self-doubt to make a new friend in this fifth illustrated chapter book of a delightful series. Violet Mackerel hopes and hopes that her new next door neighbor, Rose, might turn out to be a very good friend. But even after a nice morning at Rose’s house, Violet still has quite a few worrying thoughts. Is she too messy for Rose’s tidy family? Will Rose be disappointed that the ice in Violet’s house comes from a plastic tray instead of a special box with fancy tongs? Will Violet wear the wrong sort of costume to Rose’s flower-themed birthday party? And what if the present Violet brings is a good bit smaller than the other presents? Luckily a helpful older sister, a big imagination, and a particularly brilliant idea just might turn Violet’s possible very good friend into a definite one. "The fifth installment in this early chapter book series is as whimsical and honest as ever. Young readers will delight in the enthusiasm that Violet and Rose devote to their playdates and the attention to detail that they give to the teeny, tiny notes that they pass back and forth through the small knothole in the fence bordering their houses. Violet is a lover of all small things, being one of them herself, and that comes across deliciously. . . . Charming grayscale illustrations, again sketched by Allen, connect and expand upon the text. Fans of Junie B. Jones, Clementine, and Amber Brown will happily add Violet to their reading shelves as well." ― School Library Journal, March 2014 "This is a gentle story of kindred spirits recognizing each other, and a happy addition to this continually excellent series." ― Booklist, April 2014 "Just right for newly independent readers, this fifth adventure about Violet Mackerel finds her exploring a new home and wishing for a friend. The author gets Violet’s perspective pitch-perfect, exposing her anxieties about fitting in while also showing children they are not alone in their worries about adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings and people. Plentiful grayscale illustrations zero in on the child’s emotions, and the fluid prose makes this an ideal read-aloud for the whole family." ― School Library Journal, "Invitations to Imagination" Summer Reading List for K-3, May 2014 Anna Branford was born on the Isle of Man and spent parts of her childhood in Africa and in Papua New Guinea. Now she lives in Melbourne, Australia, with a large black cat called Florence. She writes, drinks cups of tea in her garden, and makes dolls and other small things, which she sells at early morning markets. Anna is the author of the Violet Mackerel series. Visit her at AnnaBranford.com. Elanna Allen lives in New York with her husband and sons, where she writes and illustrates children’s books and designs characters for television. She wrote and illustrated Itsy Mitsy Runs Away and has created characters for Disney, Nickelodeon, and PBS. Stop by and say hi at ElannaAllen.com. Violet Mackerel’s Possible Friend Violet Mackerel is exploring her new home. Her family has only just moved in, so she is discovering interesting things all the time. Her first discovery in the new garden is an ants’ nest. Hundreds of ants crawl in and out, sometimes carrying things that are bigger than they are. Her next good discovery is a ring of small brown mushrooms growing in a damp spot. They look like tiny umbrellas. But the most interesting discovery for the whole morning is something that actually looks very ordinary at first. It is a brown knot in the pale wooden fence. The knot is a dark circle with a ring around it. Violet presses it like a button to see if something happens, but she doesn’t really expect that anything will. It moves. She presses a little harder and it moves a bit more. She presses harder still, and suddenly it pops right through the fence and falls out the other side. Violet’s heart does a worried little jump. She looks around to see if anyone has seen her accidentally making a hole in the fence, but everyone is much too busy to notice. Mama and Violet’s brother, Dylan, are still moving furniture, trying to find the right places for it all to fit. Mama’s new husband, Vincent, is filling in cracks in the new bathroom’s ceiling. Violet’s sister, Nicola, is trying to find the channels on the television by reading some instructions and pressing all different buttons on the remote. No one has seen Violet making the hole. Perhaps, Violet thinks, no one will guess it was her. One cheering thought is that she now has a good way of peeking into the garden next door. Mama says she thinks a girl lives there who is about Violet’s age. Violet doesn’t have any friends near the new house, and she would quite like to make one. But making a new friend can be tricky, especially if the friend you would like to make is someone you have never met or even seen before. Violet has been trying to think of some theories that might be helpful for friend-ma