A charming graphic novel for early readers with strong themes of friendship and kindness that celebrates difference and new ideas with a light-hearted touch.

Pocketville is a small town, set in its ways, and the arrival of a stranger causes a stir. Monti the mole is stunned one morning to find Leo the crocodile hogging his special reading rock. When Monti visits the bakery and the library, he learns that the last cinnamon roll has been purchased, and the book he was waiting for has been checked out. What’s a fastidious mole to do? When Monti confronts Leo, the newcomer turns out to be agreeable in the extreme, and friendship is a given.

Now to convince the town’s cantankerous baker, Ms Sheep, to stop turning everyone against Leo. Together, Monti and Leo hatch a plot that will have Ms Sheep singing Leo’s praises in no time. This reassuring tale of friendship against the odds from the creator of the graphic memoir Sylvie draws on the author’s experiences as an immigrant and will appeal to anyone who has struggled to fit in in a new place.