Shadow

A girl moves into a dusty old house where she encounters Shadow—a dark, shape-shifting figure. As the two play, the girl notices that her mother cannot see Shadow: “Sometimes Ma couldn’t see for days.” After following the being into the woods and becoming lost, the girl finds “the smallest crack of light,” which leads her to her mother, who is searching for her. The two stand together with their silhouettes cast across the snowy ground—their dual shadows present for the first time—then make their way home, which no longer seems looming and unfamiliar. Suvorova’s moody, gray-washed color palette turns from gloomy to full of warmth, and Christopher writes about the trials of liminal states with a light touch and an adept use of familiar metaphors. A well-executed work about the transformative nature of togetherness. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)