Listen

by Holly M. McGhee, Pascal Lemaitre (Illustrator)

Overview

A Brain Pickings Favorite Children's Book of 2019
Experience the power of listening to your heart, paying attention, love, and empathy in Listen, a simple and tender picture book by Holly M. McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre, the creators of the New York Times bestseller Come With Me.

The buoyant verses and gentle art show you how to connect with the whole world. From exploring your sensorial surroundings—what you see, breathe, hear, taste, and feel—to becoming aware of our shared experiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250318121
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,049,330
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD400L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Holly M. McGhee is the author of the middle-grade novel Matylda, Bright & Tender, an Amazon, Bank Street, and ABC Best Book of the Year, as well as the New York Times bestselling picture book, Come with Me, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre. She divides her time between New York City, where she helps bring books she loves into the world as a literary agent, and Maplewood, New Jersey.

Pascal Lemaître is the illustrator of several books for children, including Do Not Open This Book! and New York Times bestseller Who's Got Game?, as well as the New York Times bestselling picture book, Come with Me, written by Holly M. McGhee. His wife is the dancer-choreographer Emmanuele Phuon. They live with their daughter, Maelle, in Brussels, Belgium where Pascal is a professor at the National School of Visual Arts of La Cambre.

Editorial Reviews

08/19/2019

In short, lyrical selections, McGhee invites young readers to listen, look, breathe, taste, and dig in the natural world, highlighting the ways in which sensory reflexes and experiences unite people: “Smell the air./ My air is yours and all of ours,/ your air is mine.” Other lines celebrate the elemental, communal connections that support life (“The food you eat/ is also the sun/ is also the rain”). In Lemaître’s art, a child wanders through a softly hued, scribbled landscape, listening to feet walking, viewing the stars; in a near-final spread, the child kneels, heart open and reverberating beyond the traditional physical senses (“Listen/ with your heart”). A thoughtful offering, expressed in subtle poetic tempo, about shared humanity and the nourishing world. Ages 4–7. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A sweet serenade to our shared belonging... To listen takes time, too — to learn to hear and befriend the world within and the world without, to attend to the quiet voice of life and heart alike." - Brainpickings

"A thoughtful offering, expressed in subtle poetic tempo, about shared humanity and the nourishing world." - Publishers Weekly

"Readers of all ages will love this poetic, gentle book about understanding and appreciating the universe for both its individual components and how they are intertwined with one another." - School Library Journal

From the Publisher

09/01/2019

Gr 1–3—Everything is connected, from all the people in the world to Earth itself and the stars beyond. Readers are guided through an experiential journey in this book, being instructed to listen, feel, breathe, and look in order to take in everything around them. Each element, from the sound of one's feet to the sun to the stars, is a part of a bigger whole while simultaneously belonging only to the reader. While the eyes can look and the ears can hear, it is the heart alone that has the power to comprehend everything: love is the key to an interconnected existence. Simple, poetic language builds the framework for this book, repeating words and phrases throughout. Readers of all ages will appreciate the lyrical beauty of the text, whether listening to it with others or enjoying it alone. Childlike illustrations reminiscent of Shel Silverstein are enhanced by beautiful, dulcet colors that saturate each page. Fans of books like Liz Scanlon's All the World will love the similar message presented here about love and inclusion in a world that at times seems devoid of those sentiments. VERDICT Readers of all ages will love this poetic, gentle book about understanding and appreciating the universe for both its individual components and how they are intertwined with one another.—Mary Lanni, formerly of Denver Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-06-16
How to develop and nurture empathy in ourselves and others?

It just takes listening with open hearts, open eyes and ears, and open minds. In fact, it will help to use all our senses. There's a big, beautiful world for us to engage with, and it belongs to everyone, so readers are exhorted to dig in—sometimes literally. The writing is gentle, lyrical, and comforting, meant to help readers think dreamy, lofty thoughts. However, the language is occasionally vague, some concepts perhaps too abstract to strike a resonant chord with some literal-minded youngsters. Even adults might profess to being unsure about what the softly poetic prose suggests. That could be problematic for those sharing the book with children needing explanations of a few passages. Alternatively, it could prove beneficial since this slim volume should spark lively conversations about the book's themes: of understanding, awareness of self and others, compassion, and inclusion. Lines such as "Listen / with your heart. / It is / your ears / your eyes / your nose / your mouth / your hands. / Your heart / can hear everything, / see everything, / smell everything, / taste everything, / touch everything…" should encourage animated discussion or even interpretive artwork. The soft-colored, childlike illustrations feature a lone white, dark-haired child relishing nature on most spreads. Her solitary appearance is somewhat at odds with the emphasis on inclusiveness and interconnection, however.

Just listening has its limits, but this is a start. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews