The Magical Yet

Uplifting verse by DiTerlizzi (Just Add Glitter) takes its cue from the popular “growth mindset” educational movement, which encourages kids to see failure as a temporary setback instead of the final verdict. Digital vignettes by Alvarez (Starring Carmen!) follow a brown-skinned girl learning to ride a bicycle: “Then, when you thought you were on the right track,/ you popped a wheelie and fell on your back.” She walks the bike home, scowling. “No riding for you,” DiTerlizzi writes, voicing the girl’s discouragement, “you’ll walk... forever.” A burst of fuchsia light appears: it’s the Magical Yet, a flying sprite with delicate, flowerlike petals who “finds a way,/ even when you don’t.” Metered verse describes children overcoming blunders (“Yet doesn’t mind... fixes, and flops”), which Alvarez illustrates with crisp-edged, animation-style images: one child becomes a ballet dancer, another completes an ambitious painting after a sloppy paint spill. With splashy artwork and catchy rhymes, the creators give families and educators a tool that spurs kids on to success. Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, the Bright Agency. (Apr.)