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Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840. His father was a stonemason. He was brought up near Dorchester and trained as an architect. In 1868 his work took him to St Juliot's church in Cornwall where he met his wife-to-be, Emma. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was rejected by publishers but Desperate Remedies was published in 1871 and this was rapidly followed by Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). He also wrote many other novels, poems and short stories. Tess of the D'Urbervilles was published in 1891. His final novel was Jude the Obscure (1895). Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit in 1920 and the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1912. His wife died in 1912 and he later married his secretary. Thomas Hardy died 11 January 1928.
The narrator - a dark-skinned preschooler - describes the many ways her friend surpasses her: she runs faster, climbs farther, eats spaghetti neatly, can do her own buttons, and even knows how to read. I'm glad she's my best friend, the child reiterates; still, when the friend sleeps over, at bedtime her host is the one who knows that there's no monster blowing the curtains - only the wind. The implicit triumph of this satisfying turnaround is beautifully understated; it's evident mostly in Hutchins's expressive, beautifully designed gouache paintings, where the cheerful host tries to keep up despite an untied lace, makes a comically realistic mess of her supper, and happily strews paint while the visitor produces a tidy (but far less lively) picture. A deceptively simple story with real insight, refreshing as a bright spring day. (Kirkus Reviews)
