Hummer & The Boy by Vienne Rea

A Tender Picture Book About Friendship, Growing Up, Love, and the Goodbyes We Never Forget

I think there are some friendships you don’t really expect to become important. You just meet someone, keep coming back, and somehow, years later, they have become part of your story.

That’s what I thought about while reading Hummer & The Boy.

Emmett meets a solitary Canada goose by the lake and names him Hummer. He keeps returning to the same place, and somehow Hummer keeps returning too. What begins as a simple connection slowly grows into a remarkable friendship that follows Emmett through childhood, adolescence, and all the changes that happen along the way.

I really liked how the story allows their friendship to simply unfold. There isn’t a rush to turn every moment into a lesson. There are happy days, disappointments, uncertainty, growing pains, and the quieter moments that make a relationship feel real. Through Hummer, Emmett learns about caring for another living being, compassion, forgiveness, and the vulnerability that comes with loving something deeply. And eventually, the story reaches the harder part of loving someone: saying goodbye.

That’s where I think this book will hit adults a little differently. Children may first see a beautiful friendship between a boy and a goose. Adults may find themselves thinking about an old friend, a childhood pet, or someone they loved who is no longer there. The story leaves room for both.

The illustrations add to that feeling. There is something peaceful about the lakeside setting and the changing seasons, and the artwork gives the friendship space to breathe rather than rushing from one event to the next.

Vienne Rea shared that she wrote the story out of a desire to help children develop emotional awareness and empathy. She describes the book as both a story and a mirror, and I think that’s exactly right. Children may take away one thing from it now and discover something completely different when they return to it years later.

Why you need this book

• A beautiful story about an unexpected friendship
• Opens conversations about compassion and empathy
• Gently explores growing up and change
• Makes space for conversations about loss and goodbye
• Shows that love can continue through memories
• A story children and adults can experience differently
• Peaceful, reflective illustrations

Try this at home or in class

Create a Friendship Timeline. Ask children to think about someone or even a pet, who has been important to them. Draw three or four moments from that relationship: when they first met, a favorite memory, something they learned together, and something they hope to remember. It can be a lovely way to talk about how relationships change while the memories we make can stay with us.

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Hummer & The Boy is a beautiful read-aloud for families looking for a story about friendship that doesn’t end when the last page does. It leaves you with something to remember and probably something to talk about, too.

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