Anything

A child grieving a move to a new apartment narrates this musing moment-by-moment story by Newbery Medalist Stead, making her picture book debut. Zhang (Emergency Quarters) works in close, spidery ballpoint lines and splashes of color to capture the child slumped before a chocolate cake that’s meant to celebrate the family’s first night in apartment 3B. “Apartments don’t have birthdays,” the child says. “That’s why I put zero candles on the cake,” the father smoothly replies, “Plus one, for good luck.” He invites the child to make a wish, leading to an agreement of three wishes—three “Anythings.” Alternating with the child’s sensory perceptions, longing remembrances of the family’s previous apartment, and “secret” wishes that can’t be met, the Anythings are granted. A rainbow appears painted on a bedroom wall, dinner includes “the biggest slice of pizza in the whole world,” and Thursday bath night is abandoned. (“I have an important announcement,” Daddy says. “Today is not Thursday.”) That night, awakened by a passing siren, a deeper, fourth Anything emerges: “I want to go home.” In the sequence that follows, this tender portrait captures a child met where they are by a parent who, with patience and humor, offers all the comfort the child needs—free of judgment or pressure. Character skin tones take the white of the page. Ages 3–5. (Apr.)