Shine: A Wordless Book about Love

by Dagny Griffin, Laura Bobbiesi (Illustrator)

Overview

Shine is the charming, wordless story of eight-year-old Mia, whose love and joy flow from her in beautiful, swirling color. Each day she walks through the dreary, cheerless city, but as Mia shares her love with the people she encounters, the city slowly transforms until everything around her is glowing with vibrant color.

Shine is a testament to the power one person has to change the world and influence the people around them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496437495
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	401,716
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

Editorial Reviews

01/13/2020

In a wordless debut that begins with a Bible verse from the book of Matthew (“You are the light/ that gives light to the world”), Griffin explores, through a Christian lens, a single child’s potential to transform an entire community. As Mia, a smiling light-skinned girl in a yellow jacket, steps out of her cheery home and into a grayscale neighborhood, she waves at others across the street. When they respond in kind, her radiance spreads, painting one person, then another in bright hues as they cross the street to join her, an effect shown in Bobbiesi’s sketchlike artwork as a vivid wash seeping into the gray. In confusing interstitials that interrupt the narrative, indoor scenes show the girl reading her Bible, doing chores, and praying, as well as spending devotional time with others who have crossed the street to her. An embittered adult who rejects Mia’s gift remains in a limited palette as the block brightens for others, suggesting that there is only one way to live a colorful life. A specific message unsubtly told. Ages 4–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2020-01-21
A wordless picture book ponders love.

Mia, a white girl with auburn hair, rises in the morning, says a little prayer (Matthew 5:14), reads a book, and then puts on her colorful scarf to greet the gray world outside. A rainbow wash of color emanating from her feet is symbolic of love as it spreads to others she encounters along her path, bringing brightness and life to her world. It begins with a simple friendly greeting to a friend across the street, but her light soon grabs others as well. Each day she heads out into the world with a different article of cozy clothing, the only real hint at a timeline, and spreads love to yet another person she encounters until the whole neighborhood is no longer gray and sad but vibrant. Her transitions from the street to the inside of her home are abrupt and seemingly inexplicable. One moment she is outside meeting someone new while headed nowhere in particular, the next she’s back home, then bundling up to head out the door again. Equally confusing are the relationships among Mia and the other characters: Are these friends, family members, or perfect strangers met out on the street? Though the watercolor illustrations have a cozy vintage feel reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s, each spread seems to stand on its own rather than contributing to a narrative whole.

A sweet message lost in a rather confusing storyboard. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews