Sometimes It's Bright

March 15, 2021
A child experiences creativity as magical wisps. A little blue-hued child with hair in two Afro puffs and their similarly blue parent pass a trumpeter (also blue-tinted, with close-cropped hair and a sharp nose) whose trumpet (and head to a lesser degree) emits colorful, magical-looking, bouquetlike wisps. In this watercolor-and-colored pencil world most everything is blue-hued, so the wisps stand out. When the pair reaches a busy square, more wisps appear near billboards and a theater marquee. Once they're in the theater, wisps are depicted coming from both attendees and performers. Back at home, the rhyming text muses in the child-narrator voice: "How can I find it? Can it be bought? / If I take note and share what I see... / Wait, there it is! / It's coming from me." Readers observe here that as the child draws what they observed that day that emitted the magical wisps, more are created from their art. Unfortunately, why the magical wisps are important or valuable is never made clear. Do they make the child happy? Inspired? Both are implied, but it's a bit disjointed to have such a heavy focus on the wisps without delving into why they matter. The rhyming text suggests a young target audience, but the high-concept idea suggests this offering is intended for older readers. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 32.6% of actual size.) Try pairing with other titles about creativity for a more well-rounded picture. (Picture book. 3-5)

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