Fast Friends

Every child has a voice ― if we take the time to listen.

In this appealing, energetic picture book, two kids with different challenges and strengths find they are just what the other needs to navigate classroom life.

Tyson does everything fast ― so fast he often disrupts the class. His teacher is always saying, “Too fast, Tyson!” And often he ends up playing all alone.

Suze, the new girl, is nonverbal with special needs. Sometimes her classmates don’t know what those needs are.

But Tyson understands. Taking the time to interpret her cues, Tyson forms a special friendship with Suze, and teaches his classmates what it means to listen and understand others.

Claudia Dávila’s bright, energetic art captures the joy of moving at your own speed and connecting with a friend who can ride alongside.

HEATHER M. O'CONNOR is a freelance writer, editor and author. Her first picture book about Suze and Tyson, Fast Friends, won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award. It was selected for the TD Grade One Book Giveaway and was distributed to every grade one student across Canada in 2022. Heather lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

CLAUDIA DÁVILA is the former art director of Chirp and Chickadee magazines, and is the author-illustrator of the award-winning graphic novel series The Future According to Luz and the picture book Super Red Riding Hood. Claudia illustrated Fast Friends, the multi-award-winning book Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War by Michel Chikwanine and Jessica Dee Humphreys, Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book by Marthe Jocelyn and Richard Scrimger, The Canadian Kids Guide to Outdoor Fun by Helaine Becker, and ThunderBoom by Jack Briglio. Claudia was born in Santiago, Chile, and lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two children.