Who Are You?
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Claire Keane. Random House Studio, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 979-8-217-02913-6
The natural world reiterates the title’s existential question in this adventuresome yet grounding meditation. As a pale-skinned young figure and their dog explore the wilderness, asked “Who are you?” by the world around them, first-person narration offers guiding declarations from atop a cliff (“I am the horizon/ stretching out before me”), alongside a stream, and the like. When the “howling wind” utters the refrain and a storm pours down, lines acknowledge the possibility of temporary defeat (“I am the trail/ I cannot see”), but moonlight and the comfort of home illuminate further modes of attachment. Earthy-hued colored-pencil-like sketches draw out the prose’s reassuring warmth, with auburn tones evenly backlighting inky nighttime scenes. Keane offers a centering path forward in this portrait of self-discovery through connection. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)
When You Dream Big!
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Peter H. Reynolds. Orchard, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-339-00035-0
Via heartfelt signature-style cartoons, Reynolds emphasizes mindfully moving forward over knowing exactly what’s next. During a classroom craft for “Dream Big” week at school, Charley struggles to answer the prompt “Where will your wings take you?” When other students share ambitious career-oriented goals, Charley balks, and despair sets in on the walk home until Charley’s feet provoke a revelation (“Ten toes—all pointing in the right direction”). The next day in class, wiggling her toes reminds her to be brave as she shares “I don’t exactly know WHAT I want to be when I grow up... but I do know what KIND of person I want to be.” Following suit, peers begin to offer their own character-trait-based hopes, modeling an easily emulated approach. Loose, thick-lined-outlining spotlights the protagonist and her classmates, portrayed with various abilities and skin tones; white backdrops with muted shading aptly melt into sunnier coloring to signal Charley’s emergent confidence. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)
The Story of Everything: The Story of You!
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Kara Newhouse, illus. by Kate Cosgrove. Holiday House, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8234-5846-2
In a vibrant picture book that begins with the big bang, Newhouse and Cosgrove present deep time as offering a strengthening sense of oneness with the universe. Omniscient narration proceeds chronologically, yoking a child’s individual development to a broader narrative of evolutionary milestones (“Long before you grew cell by cell.../ continents formed”). Additional lines offer further links, for example connecting the youth’s first steps with the arrival of amphibians on land. Digital renderings that resemble chalky rubbings comfortably mingle prehistoric scenes and contemporary renderings of a child and caretaker. After an asteroid presents a chance for life’s renewal, narration barrels forward toward the present, connectively twining “the story of everything” with “the story of you.” Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Includes a contextualizing note and timeline. Ages 4–8. (May)
I Love You Like a River
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Nancy Tillman. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-250-40980-5
Nature-inspired similes convey a speaker’s immense adoration in Tillman’s latest poetic ode, whose sincere lines describe love as being like “the forest trees/ that keep the secrets of the breeze” and “the early morning mist/ that makes sure mountaintops are kissed.” Embracing a growing complexity, the verse uses sensorial descriptions of the environment to find the narrator’s feelings in “bird conversations” and more. Mixed-media artwork blends photorealism with surrealistic details; its ambient luminosity highlights varied children connecting with a caregiver or nature. As the book winds down, fortifying appreciations offer a direct reminder: “In this world full of love, I get to love you.” Ages 4–8. (May)
A Celebration of You
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Josh Funk, illus. by Kip Alizadeh. Bloomsbury, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5476-0668-9
Over the course of an “outstandingly average” day, a child nevertheless finds myriad opportunities to celebrate accomplishments in this bright picture book from Funk and Alizadeh. Up-tempo rhymes frame attitude as a choice before launching into imperative suggestions (“Celebrate having ideas that spark,/ changing the universe, making your mark”). Acknowledging occasional challenges, cheerleading lines emphasize resilience and gratitude for each day’s opportunities, while across sunny impressionistic illustrations, traditional materials and digital techniques layer cool coloring and texture. The result is an exhilarating, optimism-inspiring celebration of life’s abundant possibilities. Characters are portrayed with brown skin and dark hair. Ages 3–6. (Mar.)
Planting Hope
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Frederick Joseph, illus. by Paul Kellam. Candlewick, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-3345-2
Gardening provides a youth the opportunity to cultivate hope in Joseph and Kellam’s sensitive story. Young Henry “could never seem to get his little plant to grow,” despite support from his mother, who’s so skilled that “she once grew an entire orchard to help feed people who were hungry.” When a long-term illness keeps his mom indoors, her garden becomes “droopy, weak, and sad,” despite Henry’s efforts to keep it watered. Things look dire until a neighbor connects the child with the power of positive thinking. Henry begins telling his plants “I believe in you,” and their recovery presages that of his mother. Painterly backlit digital renderings embrace verdure inside and out, while dialogue-driven and emotion-laden narration point to the healing that can arise from nurturing. Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)
The Other Side of the Garden
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Sili Recio and Elena Djome Lawrence, illus. by Brianna McCarthy. S&S/Millner, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-66594-706-0
Longing infuses the memories shared by Recio and Djome Lawrence’s maturing protagonist in this affecting long-timeline picture book about bereavement. Opening scenes center on a headstone near a fence, with a young subject’s innocent narration poignantly recounting joyful memories of the nearby garden at Abuela’s house: “From the time I was a tiny baby, I spent just about every day with her, always in her arms. Always in her garden.” Though the child yearns to cross the fence to greet her loved one, a realization dawns over time: “Eventually, I understand what I did not before. And sadness creeps in where the happiness should be.” McCarthy’s smudgy, color-saturated multimedia illustrations incorporate white charcoal that adds dashes of luminosity to page-filling multimedia scenes. After the grown protagonist releases the purple balloon that they carry as they grow, art meaningfully highlights the butterfly that lands upon their newly open fingers—an apt close for a book about letting go. Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)
Through the Garden Gate
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Sharon Rose, illus. by Erin Brown. Collective Book Studio, $19.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-68555-202-2
Assisting a neighbor with some weeding leads to a child’s helping fabled creatures in Rose and Brown’s fanciful gardening-focused picture book, which models community care. Text-filled pages chronicle a meandering adventure as brown-skinned Miles works to remove crabgrass, then crawls through a small gate and finds fairies on the other side. Echoing the text’s density, intricate artwork incorporates abundant flora and fauna into scenes of the protagonist helping the fairies to resolve ecological dilemmas. Offering a motivational speech, Miles at last clears up a spreading bog, and the day ends with a simple message that belies the work’s complicated plotting: “Magic is always alive in the garden.” Secondary characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Back matter supplies more about noted species. Ages 5 and up. (Apr.)
The Home We Dreamed
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Anca Sandu Budisan. Quill Tree, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-337305-1
Per an author’s note, Sandu Budisan’s deeply personal picture book pays tribute to her grandparents’ home and garden in Romania. First-person prose describes “a country far away,” where the narrator’s grandparents build a house by hand while enduring hardships imposed by an oppressive government. Presented as photos in a scrapbook whose pages are turned by a pale-skinned child, gently shaded colored pencil and watercolor illustrations chronicle the simple joy that fills the home as the family grows. “Days passed, as they do,” and soon the grandparents’ offspring depart for a city. After the spare text alludes to political change, the tone shifts with the author’s remembrances of carefree, flower-filled summers. It’s a wistful telling that pinpoints the way place can house memories. Ages 4–8. (May)
Wonder in the Garden
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Talia Aikens-Nuñez, illus. by Irena Freitas. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-35442-1
A day in the garden provides a child and dog ample time for play in a high-spirited picture book from Aikens-Nuñez and Freitas. Perspective- and size-distortion infuse sinuous, subtly stamp-textured digital art with an oversize energy as the outing cheerfully begins, “Every day, I say hi to my world. ¡Hola, mundo!/ And hi to my garden. ¡Hola, jardin!” As canine exploits propel the pair’s romp, the child mixes conversational observations (“Now I hide behind the collard greens”) with musings about their companion’s barks (“Is he saying Where are you?”). Eventually, the duo join Grandma, Grandpa, and others for a produce-forward dinner, making for a lively snapshot of garden-fueled fun. Figures cue as Latinx. Ages 3–5. (Mar.)
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