All Kinds of Special

After moving from an apartment, narrator Mia’s new home is “A house! Five rooms. Eleven windows. And a whole lot of promise,” Sauer writes. Because “a house has been Mama’s dream for so long,” living there has grown into Mia’s dream too. And since it comes with a yard and a mango tree, the child anticipates picking that first ripe fruit—an act that results in sharing the mangos with neighbors, portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. In Martin’s bright-hued illustrations, planes of tropical colors mimic textured gouache as light-brown-skinned Mia wears a Band-Aid on their chin, and darker-skinned Mama sports red spectacles. The child’s delight at the new home—and creative way of making sure “all kinds of special” distinguish the family’s new life there—is the theme of this neighborly picture book about a first house and how its bounty creates a new community. Age 4–8. (May)