Grace is determined to help raise money to buy a friend for the classroom guinea pig, Gus. After she kisses her two dads goodnight, she sneaks out into the city with her violin and plays for money on the subway platform. Then she works for a while as a street artist, painting caricatures of tourists, and finally she returns to the subway for some acrobatic dancing. After scooping up her earnings, she returns home for some shut-eye before going to school to make her sizeable contribution to the “Friend for Gus” fund. The mostly wordless story is told with sophisticated, sequential cartoon art filled with famous personages in the Manhattan crowd scenes. While adults may enjoy finding characters such as Alfred Hitchcock, Vincent van Gogh, Patti Smith, and Andy Warhol, younger readers will likely recognize familiar popular culture characters such as Charlie Brown, Frankenstein, and Nancy in this funny, over-the-top story about a resourceful (and talented!) girl. (Ages 5–9)