Cape

In a weighty picture book debut that considers a child’s experience of grief, Johnson follows a Black child narrator who uses a red cape to navigate the emotions associated with losing a loved one. On the day of that loved one’s funeral, observational text describes the burial (“We ride in a slow parade of cars/ and place you by the stones”), while Thomas (My Fade Is Fresh) uses sedate blues and grays to capture the gathered mourners’ sadness and the child’s feelings. The child wears a bright red cape that flows freely across every image, and when the adults reminisce “at a party where no one smiles,” the child refuses to participate: “I. DON’T. WANT. TO.” Memories, the narrator says, “make my swallow hurt,” so “I block them with my cape. I fly them to outer space. I hide them in a sunken ship.” After suppressing the recollections, though, they bubble back up: bright, colorful hues depict the protagonist embracing joyful memories shared with the late figure, and recognizing the cape as a means of connection with the dearly departed and the living. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Kevin Lewis, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Chad Beckerman, CAT Agency. (June)