Nut and Bolt by Nicole De Cock Ages 3-5 32 pages Fitzhenry and Whiteside April 2015 Hardcover     A little brown mouse named Nut helps her friend Bolt the donkey however she can. She uses a ladder to brush his teeth. She climbs onto his nose to brush his hair, and she uses a scrub brush to clean his hooves: “Real friends would do anything for each other.” She even does seemingly impossible things such as hold a heavy tree branch over Bolt’s head so he gets some shade. She leads him up a steep mountain, which has treacherous areas for a mouse. There are moments of play for the friends, too, because Nut reads to Bolt and dances for him. The book ends with a nighttime scene. The friends are at the top of the mountain, admiring a full moon. It’s on this page the reader learns what Bolt does for Nut. It’s a wordless page that can be interpreted a few ways: home, safety, comfort, family. I am looking forward to read this aloud at preschool storytime just so I can hear what the kids say about this last scene. I was not expecting such a touching moment at the end of this story.     web reviews   Tanya Boudreau/2015 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)