October 13, 2014
In an allegorical story about elusive love, a wistful girl with a mop of red hair seeks an undefined “thing.” “It’s all...” she begins, as a soda bottle erupts in a rainbow geyser, “and...” she continues, hugging a cat. Her attempts to capture the “thing” include leaving a trail of crumbs (which attracts a noisy goose) and setting a trap (which snags an angry brown bear). Brecon’s art mirrors the girl’s loneliness—a wild parade she leads is interrupted by a rainstorm, and as she sits gloomily on a curb, shop windows advertise keys (“I really want to share my heart, but I just can’t find the right way to open it”). Eventually, a boy joins her on a park bench, delivering the message that love often comes when one stops searching for it, but some readers may find the girl’s vaguely described longings tricky to parse. Ages 5–8. Agency: The Bright Agency.
October 1, 2014
A girl with abundant red hair and a green dress tries her best to share her heart with someone else. The universal struggle to take a chance and share intense feelings for another person can be especially daunting for a child. In fact, the language Brecon employs shows that the idea of love is difficult for many to describe. "There's this thing I really like. I would like to like it even more. // It's all..."-an image of a pop bottle bursting with a fountain of color appears-"/ and..."-the facing page shows the girl cuddling with a kitten. She makes several misguided attempts to contact, capture or get the attention of who or whatever "this thing" is. She sends an invitation without a proper address; she leaves a trail of crumbs for it, but a bird eats them. At this point, readers will either be intrigued or confused. The girl's attempts at "being someone else" are particularly out of step with young children's understanding. The use of the words "it" and "thing" is frustratingly obscure, even coy. Only on the final few pages is it revealed that she would like to make a connection with a boy, who asks to join her on a bench. In his hand is a red heart-shaped balloon that he released on an earlier page and has evidently led him to the girl. A muddle. (Picture book. 4-6)
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November 1, 2014
Gr 1-3-A little girl likes "a thing" and wants to like it "even more." She's shy, however, and can't address the thing outright. She attempts sending an invitation, leaving a trail of crumbs, setting a trap, and even trying to become someone else, such as a scientist or lion tamer. But the invitation is undeliverable, the crumbs and trap attract the wrong thing, and, well, she can't really be anyone but herself. Nor can she say any of the things stored in her head. When she's almost given up hope, though, the object of her desire-a boy-comes bearing a heart-shaped balloon and asks to sit next to her. The digitally created cartoons depict an expressive red-haired girl, often in spot illustrations, plotting her strategies. There are many visual metaphors and clues throughout: several heart shapes indicating the "thing" is a love interest; a sign on a building revealing that the girl is leading a parade along "Hope Street;" a key store seen behind the girl as she ponders a way to open her locked heart; and the boy she likes looking out at her from an apartment window. Yet despite these clues, kids may be confused by the incongruous depiction of a shy girl leading a parade with gusto and reference to what she wants as a "thing." Is that "thing" friendship, a person, or both? Shy children would be better served by Melanie Watts's Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend (Kids Can, 2011).-Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Greenwich, CT
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