K-Gr 2 This book seamlessly pairs lyrical text and digitally manipulated linocut illustrations in a philosophical offering that encourages youngsters to face life head on. The refrain, "So many doors in all your days, /so much to wonder about./Who will you be and where will you go?/And how will you know?" precedes each presentation of life's possibilities. All the while, an omniscient narrator constantly informs the young protagonist that she has within herself all the resources she needs. "You are braver than you know," assures the narrator, brave enough to fly as free as the birds. The lime-colored endpapers reflect the predominately green-hued palette within, depicting the girl and her dog enthusiastically exploring her world. She climbs trees, peers through binoculars, reads, stomps in leaves and puddles, and symbolically takes to the air and the stormy sea, her small boat afloat atop a giant whale and eventually coming ashore in a tranquil landscape. But that landscape abruptly fades to white with a page turn, for sometimes the path ahead is unclear. Whatever comes, though, the child is loved "more than [she] knows." This youngster is quite different from the rather passive child in Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" (Random, 1990). Her enthusiastic embrace of life can spark a one-on-one conversation about daily choices and future possibilities."Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
Empowering statements ("You are braver than you know") and an existential refrain--"Who will you be and where will you go?"--track a child (of indeterminate gender) as he or she, dog in tow, walks through the woods then navigates the wider world. The abstract text, ostensibly parent-to-child pearls of wisdom, may bore young readers, but any age can appreciate the delicate digitally manipulated linocuts.
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