★ 05/07/2018
Everything is off-kilter for Caroline from the moment Grandma wakes her. In their rush for the bus, they forget her socks and her lunch box (“Her feet were sweaty and she had to eat school lunch”); she overfeeds the class goldfish; and she spills the paint water while cleaning up the art center. Small moments offer clues for all of this discombobulation: at lunch, Caroline lines up a tiny pea next to mom-, dad-, and daughter-sized stalks of broccoli, and in class, she practices feeding a baby doll. At last, her parents arrive carrying a “bundle from far, far away”—a new baby sister, who immediately grasps Caroline’s finger, winning her over. Mallery, a poet, makes expert use of rhythm and repetition to give a palpable sense of Caroline’s anxiety, anticipation, and final acceptance, while Goodale’s (Windows) standout ink-and-watercolor digital collages reflect both the particulars of a child’s world and the sweeping enormity of her feelings. An adoption story from the fresh viewpoint of an older sister, Mallery’s debut captures a child’s universal feelings with remarkable warmth and sensitivity. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Kilkelly, Rodeen Literary Management. (Apr.)
A heartwarming adoption story from a new big sister’s perspective. ...this acknowledgement that adoptive families come in as many variations as the general population is most welcome. An unusually good adoption book.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Mallery and Goodale skillfully embed clues to the big event throughout the text and illustrations...At book’s end, when we find out why the day is unusual—it’s the day Caroline meets her new baby sister—it’s clear that she and her family wouldn’t have it any other way.” — The Horn Book
“There’s a sweetness to this story of Caroline’s topsy-turvy day, one that comes from the quiet understanding of classmates and her teacher. ...A lovely, charming addition to the growing canon of adoption stories.” — Booklist
“This book could be read with any child expecting a new siblings...Caroline and her world are lovingly rendered by Goodale in ink and watercolors. ...This adoption story fills an important need in most picture book collections while also representing the general experience of becoming an older sibling.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“Everything is off-kilter for Caroline . . . Mallery makes expert use of rhythm and repetition . . . while Goodale’s standout ink-and-watercolor digital collages reflect . . . the sweeping enormity of her feelings. An adoption story from the fresh viewpoint of an older sister, Mallery’s debut captures a child’s universal feelings with remarkable warmth and sensitivity.” — Publishers Weekly
“What a delightful choice this book is for Big Brother or Big Sister. It documents the emotions of what it is like to go through a big, unknown but wonderful change in life.” — Florida Times-Union
Mallery and Goodale skillfully embed clues to the big event throughout the text and illustrations...At book’s end, when we find out why the day is unusual—it’s the day Caroline meets her new baby sister—it’s clear that she and her family wouldn’t have it any other way.
What a delightful choice this book is for Big Brother or Big Sister. It documents the emotions of what it is like to go through a big, unknown but wonderful change in life.
There’s a sweetness to this story of Caroline’s topsy-turvy day, one that comes from the quiet understanding of classmates and her teacher. ...A lovely, charming addition to the growing canon of adoption stories.
There’s a sweetness to this story of Caroline’s topsy-turvy day, one that comes from the quiet understanding of classmates and her teacher. ...A lovely, charming addition to the growing canon of adoption stories.
★ 03/01/2018
PreS-Gr 2—A young girl named Caroline moves through her unusual day at school, preparing for the impending arrival of her new baby sister. Mallery's simple text makes readers feel her preoccupation and discomfort. They are told that she is usually up early, organized, calm, and helpful, but on this day, "she forgot her socks. She forgot her lunch box. Her feet were sweaty and she had to eat school lunch." There is no explicit mention of adoption, and even the existence of the new baby is not revealed until nearly the end of the book. Rather, the text and illustrations provide ample space for questions and further discovery through reading and rereading, including subtle textual and pictorial clues, such as the words "far, far, away," and Caroline's interest in airplanes. The focus of the story is Caroline's experience, and the ways in which her perspective changes upon meeting the baby, who made "every usual thing, unusually new and perfectly right." Because of this, the book could be read with any child expecting a new sibling, despite the baby's depiction as older than a newborn. Caroline and her world are lovingly rendered by Goodale in ink and watercolors. The setting is modern, and the color palette fresh and light. The pages are full of detail and texture where it matters, clean lines, with secondary characters and objects sketched in gray and pastel silhouettes. VERDICT This adoption story fills an important need in most picture book collections while also representing the general experience of becoming an older sibling. A must purchase for any library serving families.—Clara Hendricks, Cambridge Public Library, MA
★ 2018-02-04
A heartwarming adoption story from a new big sister's perspective.The lyrical text opens with Caroline, a child of color with light brown skin and straight, dark hair, wakening on the titular "most unusual day" and feeling out-of-sorts. A photo on her bedside table (also seen on the title page) shows her with three adults—her parents and her grandmother, a multiracial family. Her mother has similar hair but lighter skin than Caroline's, while her father and grandmother resemble each other with darker brown skin and curly, black hair. Caroline's grandmother is staying with her while her parents are away, but it's not immediately clear why this is so. The sensitive text and expressive, gestural art make plain, however, that Caroline is distracted and uneasy as she awaits their return. The reason for Caroline's fretfulness is revealed when her parents pick her up from school with "a bundle from far, far away." This bundle is Caroline's new sister, who looks a lot like her, and the words "from far, far away" suggest she's a transnational adoptee. While the text doesn't definitively identify Caroline as an adoptee, her resemblance to her sister and not their parents may prompt this interpretation. As so very many adoption stories feature white parents with children of color, this acknowledgment that adoptive families come in as many variations as the general population is most welcome.An unusually good adoption book. (Picture book. 3-6)
