Larry, Red and Blue

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Emily hates Caitlin Rose. Emily used to be best friends with a boy named
Larry, but since Caitlin moved into the neighborhood everything has
changed. Caitlin is a pouty little perfect princess. Emily is a tomboy
who gets sent to her room for biting her brothers. Larry asked Emily to
be nice to Caitlin. Emily began daydreaming about big hairy spiders that
would eat Caitlin feet first. One day, Emily stormed out of Larry’s
house and spent the whole day sulking in her room. Later that day, Larry
died in a traffic accident. Now Emily will never be able to apologize to
Larry. Worse still, Caitlin is too stupid to realize how much Emily
hates her. She keeps coming over to Emily’s house and trying to be
friends.

Author/illustrator/teacher/cab driver Diane Jarvis Jones writes a
terrific story. Instead of steering around tough topics, she meets them
head-on: Larry’s death is revealed in the very first sentence. The
folk-art illustrations help soften the hard edges of the story while
reinforcing the sense that these characters really exist somewhere.
Highly recommended.