What the Road Said

by Cleo Wade, Lucie de Moyencourt (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Beaming with inspiration and gorgeous illustrations from Lucie de Moyencourt, Cleo Wade’s What the Road Said is the perfect vehicle to spotlight the virtues of taking chances, believing in yourself and, ultimately, creating your path for happiness in life. Each spread is worthy of being framed, and it’s impossible to not be filled with hope each time you read it. Appropriate for everyone, regardless of age, What the Road Said will leave a lasting impression.

What the Road Said is the New York Times-bestselling comforting and uplifting picture book from bestselling poet and activist Cleo Wade.

Which way do I go?
That is your choice to make,
said the Road.

But what if I go the wrong way?
The Road curved a little,
almost as if it was giving me a hug, and said,
Do not worry. Sometimes we go the wrong way on our way to the right way.

It's okay to be afraid or to sometimes wander down the wrong path. Bestselling poet and activist Cleo Wade's What the Road Said features illustrations by Lucie de Moyencourt and encourages us to lead with kindness and curiosity, remembering that the most important thing we can do in life is to keep going.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250269492
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	03/23/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	85
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Cleo Wade is a friend, community builder, and the author of the bestselling books, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life, Where to Begin: A small book your power to create big change, and Heart Talk: The Journal, 52 weeks of self-love, self-care, and self-discovery. She has been called the poet of her generation by Time Magazine and one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company. Cleo sits on the board of The Lower East Side Girls Club, the National Black Theatre in Harlem, the Women’s Prison Association. When Cleo is not at home in California with her partner, Simon Kinberg, and their daughter, Memphis, she can be found traveling around the country on her sold-out book tours, which have become a safe space to laugh, cry, hug, and offer support to fellow readers.

Lucie de Moyencourt was born in Paris and grew up in South Africa, where she works as an architect, set designer, illustrator and painter. What the Road Said is her first book.

Editorial Reviews

04/19/2021

The road is not only a metaphor for life’s journey in this meditative picture book but also a supportive and wise friend accompanying readers on their individual paths. A young narrator wonders if there is “something more... something just.../ different” before happening upon a new road and asking where it leads. The road responds, “Be a leader and find out.” Thus begins a conversation between the two that results in encouraging, confident answers to questions such as, “What if I get lost?” “What if I get lonely?” and “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Alongside de Moyencourt’s vividly colored, bucolic scenes of the natural world, accessible language and a heartfelt tone make this a meta guide for a broad range of readers finding their way to their future. Ages 6–10. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-04-08
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.

Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.

Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)

Kirkus Reviews