Thank You!

K-Gr 2–In this poetic Spanish import, a curious little girl has many questions for her grandmother. Sitting side-by-side, watching the waves roll in, the child asks for some explanations, “Tell me, why does the sea stop at the sand, instead of swallowing up the whole town with its watery mouth?’ Grandma doesn’t reply, and Isabella “listen[s] to her silence for awhile.” As the pair continue to explore their surroundings, Isabella considers more imponderables: “What holds up the moon so it doesn’t fall out of the sky?” “What makes the wind blow?” Why don’t the days get shorter and shorter, until they disappear altogether?”Allepuz’s mixed media illustrations are full of wonderment and whimsical touches like the image of a silver sliver of a crescent moon hung up by slender threads that Isabella walks along like on a tightrope. When the child starts to get impatient, Grandma truthfully admits that she doesn’t know all the answers, and shares a thoughtful approach to attending to “all of these mysteries.” Walking back home, they mindfully offer a heartfelt “Thank you!” to the sea, the moon, clouds, and the sun.