Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas

Title: Leo and Ralph

Author: Peter Carnavas

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: UQP

Published: 29^th February 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 276

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Ralph sat up. His voice was croaky. ‘If a shooting star zoomed past right now, what would you wish for?’

‘To find another friend like you.’

Leo and Ralph have been best friends ever since Ralph flew down from one of Jupiter’s moons. But now Leo’s older, and Mum and Dad think it’s time to say goodbye to Ralph. When the family moves to a small country town, they hope Leo might finally make a real friend. But someone like Ralph is hard to leave behind…

Perfect for kids who enjoy gentle, thoughtful stories like The Wild Robot by Peter Brown and the Polly and Buster series by Sally Rippin.

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Leo has been lonely. His sister, Peg, seems to make friends everywhere she goes and with everyone she speaks to, whilst Leo struggles to connect and find ways to play with people. That is, until Ralph comes down on a white balloon from one of Jupiter’s moons – Leo loves space and is excited to finally have a friend. Ralph has been with Leo since Prep, and now Mum and Dad think it is time for Leo to say goodbye to Ralph. So they move the family to a small country town called Dundle, where Leo will hopefully make a real friend – but can he leave Ralph behind, or is Ralph just the alien to help Leo find his true friend?

Leo and Ralph is a gentle book about friendship and growing up, about finding yourself and embracing your interests and the changes that we have to make in our lives as we grow up. For Leo, this means letting go of his imaginary friend, Ralph to make new friends – real friends. But Leo has tried – the kids in his class only spend time with him because they have to, and they’re uninterested in what he is interested in – at times, it seemed they didn’t want to try and find something in common. That is, until he meets Gus and helps him find his soccer ball.

Gus is the first person that Leo has met that makes him feel seen – and someone that even Ralph sees as a good option for a friend. Yet Leo is torn – Ralph or Gus? Can he have both in this small town where his family lives on the grounds of the high school where his mother work? As I read Leo’s story, I kept hoping he would find a way to resolve his friendship challenges – because all he needed was someone to accept him for who he was. It was about finding that one person who understood you and didn’t want to change you, or only focus on their interests, and learning to share things and teach each other about what interests you, even if it doesn’t interest you at first.

But at its heart, it was also about celebrating difference. I liked that Leo and Gus were different, and able to accept that about each other. Because that shows that they were able to see past what everyone else saw and assumed about them. It showed that it is okay for everyone to enjoy different things, and okay that you’re not always good at the things that other people are good at. Everyone has something to contribute. In a town like Dundle, where everyone has distinct ideas and ways of living that make you feel left out. Yet it is precisely this that worked in Leo’s favour throughout as he navigated his new life.

It was also hard to see Leo struggle where he saw his sister Peg find making friends so easily. It highlighted that even when raised in the same environment, siblings can often be very different in how they relate to the world and get along with people. I loved that Peg tried to help her brother – highlighting the importance of having a supportive family and network when things are hard. This gentle book is one that many readers may find relatable for a range of reasons, as there are many reasons that children will face issues like Leo’s, and books like this can show them that they are not alone, that there are ways to make friends and overcome the things that they find hard. This gentle story is light and fun, and brimming with creativity that can spark magical things.