A Room of Your Own: A Story Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Famous Essay

“Where do you go/ to think,/ to dream,/ to be?” Taking Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own as a jumping-off point, Kephart employs rhythmic lines to prompt readers’ own reflections on the possibility of personal space. With the support of Breckenreid’s lightly surrealistic pictures—which draw on motifs of blooms, books, and butterflies—room is interpreted expansively as “the shade beneath a tree,” “the cool/ beside the tail of the cat,/ behind the tablecloth,/ where nobody has found you yet,” and “the cone of light/ inside a bedsheet fort.” While depictions of Woolf open and close the dreamy book, and cameos of her appear throughout, most scenes present children of varying skin tones enjoying time to themselves in different types of homes. Together, images and text combine for an unequivocal ode to the necessity of being oneself, and of having time alone. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)