Publishers Weekly
★ 05/23/2022
Instead of heading out to recess, where “everyone’s found their group,” young Nicky, who reads as Black, prefers shelving books at the school library, where “everything has its place.” When she learns that the library will be closed for a week and she’ll have to join recess during that time, “my stomach starts to hurt.” But at her mother’s restaurant, where “it’s all right to be alone,” she encounters Maggie, a poetry-loving biker who subsequently arrives with her “motorcycle sisters,” members of “all different colors,/ shapes,/ sizes” who seem comfortable in their own skin. Watching them, Nicky realizes that individuality isn’t synonymous with isolation, and that belonging doesn’t demand conformity—people can be “all so different but together, too.” This epiphany follows her to the playground, where, with the help of a Mary Oliver volume from Maggie, the recess she’s been dreading instead becomes an opportunity to make a new, book-loving friend. Using emotionally astute prose and collage art that resembles a personal scrapbook with crayon-textured sketches, debut author David-Sax and Pinkney Barlow (The Real Santa) honor their protagonist’s rich interiority, never minimizing Nicky’s pain or yearning, nor her preference for books and (some) solitude. Ages 3–7. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (July)
From the Publisher
★ "For all those who are never found without a book at recess."—Kirkus, starred review
★ "Using emotionally astute prose and collage art that resembles a personal scrapbook with crayon-textured sketches, debut author David-Sax and Pinkney Barlow (The Real Santa) honor their protagonist’s rich interiority, never minimizing Nicky’s pain or yearning, nor her preference for books and (some) solitude."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
A Book Riot Must-Read July Children's Book Release—"A super sweet and lyrical picture book perfect for shy, bookworm kids."
"It can be tough for kids to find their "people"; David-Sax and Barlow offer one possible pathway to forging a satisfying friendship."—Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-06-22
A bookish child who doesn’t feel that they belong decides to take a risk.
To Nicky, belonging seems so simple in Ms. Gillam’s library at school. How could recess and its rowdy, closed-off groups ever compare to the quiet delight of reshelving books? “Everything has its place in a library. / The books. Ms. Gillam. Me.” Then Ms. Gillam announces she will be away at a conference, and Nicky dreads facing a whole week without her haven. Nicky seeks solace in the routine of their mother’s cafe and in their favorite customer, Maggie, who rides a motorcycle and loans Nicky books. But when Maggie comes to the restaurant one day with a whole fleet of motorcyclists—all of them different, all of them together—Nicky is floored by the realization that being different doesn’t have to mean being alone. The poetic text refreshingly resists “correcting” its misfit protagonist and opts instead to validate them. Nicky doesn’t have to shed their introversion or put aside books to make friends but instead invites a peer to dive into books with them. Pinkney Barlow’s illustrations offer a rich, journalesque storytelling counterpart, as the collage and ink-pen styles expertly contrast Nicky’s introspection with the world around them, gifting readers with an almost fantastical visual and emotional landscape. Almost the entire cast is Black and brown, though Barlow opts for unfilled line drawings rather than painted skin tones. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
For all those who are never found without a book at recess. (Picture book. 4-7)
