Starred review from July 10, 2023
Alongside National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman’s soaring poem about change, Caldecott Honoree Robinson opens with a portrait of a Black-presenting child walking along a city block, viewing an overflowing pile of trash with a look of concern while an adult moves on. “You are told/ That this is not a problem,” begin ringing lines, “But you’re sure/ There’s something wrong.” The child returns to tackle the trash, struggling to push an enormous shopping cart. Collaged spreads compare the youth’s steady work to that of an ant (“you’ve seen the tiniest things/ Make a huge difference”) and, after ups and downs, portray the arrival of interested companions (“This problem is big,/ But together,/ We are bigger”). The first seedlings they plant at the cleared site wilt, but there’s soon growth that becomes “Something that is not a dream,/ But the day you live in.” Together, the creators chronicle a child trusting their inner voice and working out how to address what feels in need of care, while Robinson’s neighborhood scenes, portraying a community of varying abilities, ages, and skin tones, model collaboration as a means for metamorphosis. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously. Ages 4–8.