The Great Realization

July 31, 2020

PreS-Gr 2-Set in an abstract future, a young boy asks his older brother to share a bedtime story about the time of the virus of 2020. It was a time when people had lost their way, when humans were lost to a world of environmental degradation, technology, and corporate greed. Then a virus came and changed how people behaved. During a time when everyone was forced to slow down and live differently, they managed to find hope and inspiration for a different way of living. The story, in the form of a picture book poem, was originally released as a short video that went viral on social media platforms in this past spring. It featured the author reading the poem as a bedtime story to his younger brother and sister in an effort to offer a more optimistic response to fears and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nomoco's artistic ink and watercolor illustrations serve as an understated backdrop for the text. In the introduction, the author is careful to assert that he does not wish to negate the many hardships caused by the virus, but instead offers a message of hope and optimism in a time of great difficulties. VERDICT This fairytale-style story provides a springboard for discussion of current events with children, and presents a more optimistic view of the future in a time where the outlook often seems bleak.-Jessica Marie, Salem P.L., OR

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2020
Lyrical reassurance in the face of illness or pandemic, spun off from a viral video: "Well, sometimes you get sick, my boy, / before you start / feeling better." With similarly daft logic--not to mention frequent disregard for regular meter and rhyme--Roberts tells a favorite bedtime story to two children. Back in 2020, the text relates, corporate greed ("our leaders taught us why / it's best to not / upset the lobbies-- / more convenient to die") and feelings of loneliness brought about by our addiction to screens and social media were transformed into a healthier "work-life balance" while hiding away from the virus. "We started clapping to say thank you / and calling up our moms. / And while the car keys gathered dust / we would look forward to our runs." Emerging from this rather radically simplistic isolation scenario to a fresher, less-plasticized world led to the titular epiphany, the exact nature of which readers are left to figure out. Along with Americanized spelling and a few unnecessary changes in line order and wording, this version of the poem comes with restrained, sparely brushed watercolor illustrations of, mostly, stylized human figures rendered in a range of hues from paper white (the narrator and children) to shades of brown and pale blue or green. Readers may be affected by the optimistic tone, but the words sound darker, even disturbing, themes. (Picture book. 6-8)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.