Ninny and libby are friends
A quiet three-book picture book series
About friendship, difference, solitude, emotional storms, and being understood.
Created by People Who Understand Relationships
Created by Canadian psychotherapist and former midwife Arlene Vandersloot, and illustrated by Chinese-Canadian artist Moo Meng, the series follows two small owls — Ninny and Libby — as they learn how friendship can hold both closeness and distance, quiet and noise, sameness and difference.
Not Traditional SEL
Rather than functioning as a traditional “social-emotional learning” product, the series approaches emotional life through literary storytelling, atmosphere, and relationship experience. Its world is shaped by forests, feathers, rivers, weather, and moments of stillness.
A World Beyond the Books
Alongside the main picture books, the project also includes an adult-facing companion guide system and a growing world of relationship-centered objects and stationery inspired by the series’ visual and emotional language.
This Series Does Not Try to “Fix” Children
At its heart, Ninny and Libby is not a system designed to “fix” children.
It is a gentle world about companionship, emotional safety, and the ways people continue finding each other — same and different — across time.
ISBN: 978-1-7383809-5-4
Publishing date: Nov-2026