How Are You, Verity?

Verity must navigate the titular question’s multiple social meanings in this personal-feeling story, which draws on the author’s experiences. In neighborhood settings, community members portrayed with varying skin tones ask brown-skinned, bespectacled Verity, “How are you?” and the exuberant child responds at length with information about sea creatures. When big brother John observes that the question is generally considered a greeting rather than an invitation for elaboration, Verity experiments with the concept. The exercise grows more complex when a canceled field trip to the aquarium leaves Verity feeling down, prompting a sincere version of the query from John—and provoking a heart-to-heart that revives the protagonist. Barron’s flattened, unlined renderings stylishly play with shape, pattern, and, aptly, perspective. An author’s note from Wilson Duff discusses neurodiversity. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)