I Heart You

Fleming coaxes remarkable emotion out of three-word sentences in a lovely debut, constructing poetic mini-narratives involving parent-child pairs. Most of those pairs are animals: the first pages show a young rabbit racing back to the family den with a stolen carrot for a tender reunion ("I see you./ I miss you./ I hug you./ I kiss you"). A few pages later, two bears tussle before the older one serves as an ad hoc stepladder so its child can pick an apple from a tree ("I chase you./ I slow you./ I lift you./ I grow you"). Working in pencil and gouache, Wright (A Christmas Goodnight) creates an enchanting rural landscape, concluding with gentle scenes of a mother and daughter watching fireflies fill the air. Up to age 8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Dec.)