cover image Nini

Nini

Fran%C3%A7ois Thisdale. Tundra, $15.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-77049-270-7

Illustrator Thisdale (Bird Child) makes his authorial debut with a lyrical story of a child's adoption in which somber moments are never far from those of hope and joy. The story opens before the child has been born, as she listens to her mother's voice, which "spoke of rice paddies and lotus flowers, blowing in the evening breeze," but also of troubling circumstances, left vague. After the baby is born, "[t]he first hands she felt were the hands of love," but she is abruptly taken to an orphanage. Meanwhile, after a woman on "the other side of the world" loses her baby (the text, while circumspect, implies miscarriage), she and her husband soon come to adopt the girl, Nini, with whom they form a deep bond. Rendered in deep jewel tones and forceful brushstrokes, Thisdale's richly layered images incorporate Chinese characters, na%C3%AFf children's drawings, and sometimes unsettlingly realistic images of Nini to dreamlike effect. The story's sadder moments will almost certainly draw questions from children, but the message of connectivity and love over distance, time, and circumstance resonates. Ages 3%E2%80%936. (Aug.)