Thank You, Everything

Striking, stylish illustrations distinguish an epic read from creative team Icinori (Issun Boshi). Crisp-edged, silkscreen-like images in a palette of muted red, faded gold, and deep turquoise give the pages the look of vintage advertisements. As a silhouetted protagonist wakes, the story presents at first as a catalog of objects (“Thank you, alarm clock.// Thank you, bed”) and rituals (“Thank you, soap.// Thank you, shower”), accompanied by repeating bursts of gratitude. When a mysterious box is opened (“Thank you surprise.// Thank you map”), the pace shifts into high gear and preparations begin, necessitating a raid on a piggy bank (“Thank you, hammer”). The ambitious, world-girdling expedition that follows stretches across weathers and seasons as the child is seen cycling across a snowy field under skeins of geese (“Thank you, cold”), traveling through a city, traversing a jungle, crossing an ocean, flying in a balloon, encountering mysteries in Earth’s depths—and then, with a new sense of self, arriving home. Throughout this meta creation that recasts exploration in an unexpected language, even the work’s colors and shapes are addressed (“Thank you, yellow... red... blue”). Characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)