I Won’t Give Up My Rubber Band

All that glitters is not gold in a comedic picture book about childhood agency and small delights. Finding a humble rubber band next to a wastebasket, the eager child narrator asks their mother for it. Wish granted, the child’s eyes grow wide with the thrill of solo ownership: “I have a rubber band! This is my rubber band!” Subsequent spreads envisage the possible adventures of child and elastic, in the present day (baths, co-sleeping), in the future (gathering hair and love letters), and in more speculative scenarios (capturing baddies, saving the world). These plans lead to musings about others’ attachments, then reasoning about how “everyone always seems to be looking for something.” Throughout, dot-eyed characters, portrayed with paper-white skin and brown-toned hair, interact with various objects, and one spread offers a visual accounting of pocket-size treasures: key chains and toys, a tuning fork and an acorn. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder in this gently philosophical love letter to the quotidian, but Yoshitake (I Can Be Anything) cleverly elevates the simple joy of having “something that’s just mine.” Final art not seen by PW. Ages 3–5. (May)