All of Us

by Carin Berger, Carin Berger (Illustrator)

Overview

Acclaimed and award-winning picture book creator Carin Berger shares a moving story of community, empathy, and the power of love.

With a universal message and stunning paper collage art, this striking book is just right for fans of Matt de la Peña’s Love and Emily Winfield Martin’s The Wonderful Things You Will Be.  

Award-winning illustrator Carin Berger’s beautiful and timely picture book celebrates the power of community, family, and most of all, love. Her beautiful collage art and lyrical text offer a message of hope in the face of adversity.

All of Us is ideal for family sharing as well as year-round giving and is for fans of Nancy’s Tillman’s Wherever You Are and Alison McGhee’s Someday.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062694133
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/08/2018
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Carin Berger is an award-winning designer and illustrator. Her cut-paper collages are made using ephemera, such as catalogues, old books, receipts, letters, and ticket stubs. In a starred review, Kirkus said of her Forever Friends, “Sophisticated, sensitive, and accessible, this picture book will offer new insights and pleasures with each season.” The Little Yellow Leaf was a 2008 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books selection, and in starred reviews, Publishers Weekly called her A Perfect Day “lovely” and her Finding Spring “exceptional.” She is also the illustrator of the acclaimed Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, both by Jack Prelutsky, among other books. She lives with her family in New York City. www.carinberger.com

Carin Berger is an award-winning designer and illustrator. Her cut-paper collages are made using ephemera, such as catalogues, old books, receipts, letters, and ticket stubs. In a starred review, Kirkus said of her Forever Friends, “Sophisticated, sensitive, and accessible, this picture book will offer new insights and pleasures with each season.” The Little Yellow Leaf was a 2008 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books selection, and in starred reviews, Publishers Weekly called her A Perfect Day “lovely” and her Finding Spring “exceptional.” She is also the illustrator of the acclaimed Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, both by Jack Prelutsky, among other books. She lives with her family in New York City. www.carinberger.com

Editorial Reviews

03/12/2018
Berger’s (Good Night! Good Night!) story is really an anthem, with a text that may remind some readers of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” “When your heart is heavy and your step unsure,” she writes, “Know that I am here, as steady as stone.” But this isn’t just one-to-one encouragement: Berger goes on to imagine a global community where “we are stronger together” and “love wins.” Each line gets its own posterlike treatment, with newsprint and a variety of ornate paper accents showcasing Berger’s considerable skill as a collagist. A few pictures don’t rise above the sentiment of the prose and utilize more generic motifs: one image shows multicultural, hand-holding characters literally encircling the earth. But many illustrations are striking and poignant, combining realistic, fantastical, and metaphorical elements. The image paired with “steady as a stone” shows a hand and sleeve cut from the pages of vintage business correspondence; nestled in the hand is an oval shape. Its dimensionality conveyed through blue-gray gradient surface, it exudes an almost magical calm. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

A delightful meditation on love and community. The prose reads like a song, and the story is simple and universal. ...Useful as a soothing bedtime selection or as a short read-aloud. Perfect for sharing on Valentine’s Day and every day.” — School Library Journal

“Parents and their little ones will love this disarmingly simple poem about the power of love and community to vanquish fear and darkness. ...Berger’s message is gorgeously emphasized by collage illustrations that capture the essence of the words.” — Booklist

“Berger populates this buoying book with people of all hues, genders, and love configurations. ...An earnest, moving expression of what the world needs now—and what children have always needed: love, sweet love.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Illustrations are striking and poignant, combining realistic, fantastical, and metaphorical elements. ...it exudes an almost magical calm.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Parents and their little ones will love this disarmingly simple poem about the power of love and community to vanquish fear and darkness. ...Berger’s message is gorgeously emphasized by collage illustrations that capture the essence of the words.

Booklist

Parents and their little ones will love this disarmingly simple poem about the power of love and community to vanquish fear and darkness. ...Berger’s message is gorgeously emphasized by collage illustrations that capture the essence of the words.

Booklist

02/01/2018
PreS-Gr 1—A delightful meditation on love and community. The prose reads like a song, and the story is simple and universal. In elongated rhyming verse ("When your heart is heavy/And your step unsure/When the winds are wild/And your path unclear"), the narrator reassures readers of their steadfast love through even the darkest times, and shares with them the hope for a bright future. The narrative is accompanied by collage illustrations made with paper and print ephemera. Some spreads are filled with complex, multicolored, layered patterns and colors, while other return to minimalistic designs with only a few simple shapes. Each line of text is paired beautifully with an illustration and the pacing throughout is thoughtful and cumulative. On the final pages, the message, "For love wins," is accompanied by a line of people of varying ages, races, and religions holding hands. As the art builds to a joyful and bright finish, the book ends with the powerful and enduring words, "Love will never fail." VERDICT Useful as a soothing bedtime selection or as a short read-aloud. Perfect for sharing on Valentine's Day and every day.—Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library

School Library Journal

2018-03-04
Cut-paper collages encourage readers to remember that "love wins," even during painful, confusing times. Berger populates this buoying book with people of all hues, genders, and love configurations: same-sex couples, adoptive parents, old partners, young lovebirds, interracial couples, children, lots of pets. They stand together, aligned in a powerful, peaceful phalanx (many holding LOVE banners and posters) on the final pages—three double-page spreads of little people in long, long lines. Studying the artwork's embedded ephemera (handwritten letters, grid papers, old catalogs, and clippings) evokes thoughts about how humans can connect across time. Between the book's rallying beginning and end, succinct, powerful illustrations depict the worry and sadness that surface in both a small child's life and the grown-up world. A brown-skinned girl tries (literally) to lift a heavy heart (shape) off the ground; a dragon hovers in an enveloping dark sky; fog makes a path forward hard to see. Berger reminds readers that there are helpers, always, "steady as stone," with a palm outstretched, open, offering a smooth rock. Accompanying a picture of a handshake (one dark-skinned and another light-skinned), she asserts "we are stronger together." Adults might hear echoes of a recent campaign, but children will see only the linking of hands atop a fertile green backdrop and recognize an empowering affirmation.An earnest, moving expression of what the world needs now—and what children have always needed: love, sweet love. (Picture book. 2-10)

Kirkus Reviews