The Girl and the Robot Heart

Hoskins and Vaicenavicˇiene ∙ present holiday magic via a surrealist lens in this love-extolling picture book. On a Christmas Eve when “the amber light of all the houses/ Glimmered in the cold and dark,” a robot asks a girl, “What’s inside a human heart?” The answer prompts a series of appreciations that capture the experiences stored in the heart via “a thousand rooms” lined with book-filled shelves. Ensuing examples of the books’ contents vividly paint almost magical scenes, such as that of “the golden deer that gather in the woods/ Who run and prance along all night in the empty streets/ While everybody sleeps and dreams of the quiet little town.” In the morning, a gift under the tree leads to further layers as the tale builds to rhapsodic ending sentiments. Naif-style mixed-media art has a dreamy quality that mirrors Hoskins’s verse, making for an inventive read. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)