The illustrations are vibrant and joyful and celebratory, even as the story is describing events born of poverty. Many students used to making the most of hand-me-downs may relate to the power of recreating something beautiful from that which has been discarded by others. They may be perplexed though at the idea that the narrator and his mother had to sneak through the night to scavenge the fabric scraps before they were set afire. Reading the author’s note at the end helps to give context, explaining that the book is based on his own childhood experiences growing up in St. Lucia, where wealthy factory owners made a point of having their scraps burned so that poor families couldn’t steal their trash, but that sometimes a kind worker would give them time to rummage before starting the blaze. We say books can sometime serve as mirrors, reflecting the reader’s own experiences, or sometime a window, showing the reader some aspect of the world beyond. This one may do both at the same time for some readers.

It’s not a story to be read straight through from start to finish. It’s a poem to be read and pondered in bits and pieces — would be a really good conversation starter. It’s a series of rhyming couplets, each making a statement that seems on the surface to be self-contradictory, yet the accompanying illustrations sets forth a scenario in which it makes sense after all. “Just because I’m finished, doesn’t mean that I’m done” is matched with illustrations that show a girl all tucked up in bed, saying goodnight to the parent at the door, followed by the same girl reading with a flashlight under the covers once she’s alone; “Just because I’m sitting still, doesn’t mean that I’m not busy,” is illustrated with a girl sitting in a yoga pose. Some of them work better than others, and some could be argued, but that’s what gives it such potential to start meaningful discussions.

The illustrations are absolutely charming! The big eyes on the bear cub, Arlo, capture the reader’s heart from the start. The message may be a familiar one, that “Being brave when you feel afraid is the very bravest brave of all,” but because the cute little bear sucks us in at the beginning, we feel for him every step of the adventure that teaches him this lesson. He doesn’t want to leave his cozy cave all snug with his mom and sister, but mom tells him to be brave as they set out. He sees his sister as the brave one, until she gets lost in a snowstorm and he rushes out on his own to save her without even thinking about it. In the end, once they’ve all reached their destination safely, he once again finds himself snuggly curled up with mom and sister. It’s a feel-good story that leaves the reader comforted by the reassuring ending of everything turning out alright in the end, and the confidence that we all have the capacity to be braver than we believe when need arises.

This is a good addition for libraries wishing to expand their multicultural offerings. The main characters are immigrants from Iran, but the story line is one that could fit any young child on a day out with her grandfather: As the narrator describes her visit to her grandfather, she starts noticing details that set her imagination going: he’s got a gold coin, and he sings to a parrot, and he speaks an unknown language with a friend who gives him magic crystals (a.k.a. rock candy), so she decides he must be a pirate. Even after he sets her straight, she still recognizes his many great traits and decides she wants to be just like him someday.