Ray

April 1, 2020
Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need. Coppo presents the story of an anthropomorphic incandescent light bulb named Ray that has lived in various rooms of a home and now resides in a closet among seldom-used items. Bored with it all, Ray leads an unfulfilled life until he's called upon to power a lantern on a family camping trip. This trip exposes Ray to a new world of stars and the sun and inspires him to dream big once again. Scratching your head yet? Don't worry, you won't be alone. Astute children may also be confused by Ray's tale: How has Ray never seen the sun or stars before if he's lived in other rooms of the house? Who moves light bulbs from room to room? Why, in 2020, is Ray an incandescent bulb? The measured pacing that made Coppo's Petra (2017) such a joy works against this story, causing it to feel needlessly drawn out. Some elements, such as an interactive moment � la Herv� Tullet, are underutilized and make the story feel disjointed. The illustrations--a combination of tempera, pastel, and digital collage--are all over the place. Some pages are very sparse while others are dark and complex, which works against large group read-alouds. This bulb has burned out. (Picture book. 6-10)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 6, 2020
Ray is a globe light bulb in a family’s storage closet that “goes from here to there. That’s it.” His only company is a child who occasionally uses the closet as a “secret hideout,” a spider named Tom, and 41 items that Ray has counted many, many times. Mostly, Ray is left quite
literally in the dark, which, Coppo (Petra) writes, “is boring if you don’t know how to fill it.” But when Ray is put into a lantern and travels with the family on a camping trip, the world opens up for him as naïf digitized tempera and pastel drawings reveal a verdant, wooded landscape filled with flora, fauna, and natural phenomena, including “the biggest light bulb in the world”—the sun. Readers attached to fair outcomes may feel indignant when the “glowing” Ray is resequestered in the closet following the family’s return home. But to Coppo, life really is what one makes of it, and Ray has received an incredible gift—all the memories and fodder for imagination that he needs to create a whole world out of a dim situation. Ages 3–7.

Starred review from March 15, 2020
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Readers who love Petra (2018) are in for a treat with Coppo's newest picture book about a cheerful light bulb named Ray. With his tiny smiling face and rosy cheeks, Ray emits a Kawaii cuteness that will send a jolt of affection through readers, just as soon as they flip on his light switch, as directed by the text. Ray lives in a cluttered storage closet, which isn't very exciting, except when a little boy uses it as a secret hideout. However, this mundane existence gets left in the dark when Ray is unscrewed and placed in a lantern, which the boy and his father take on a camping trip. What an adventure! Using tempera, pastels, and digital collage techniques, Coppo shows lush green expanses filled with interesting plants and animals that Ray has never seen before. The vastness of it makes him feel quite small, but when stars dot the night sky and then give way to the sun ( the biggest light bulb in the world ), he is filled with wonder. Children will easily identify with Ray's feelings of timidity when faced with a large, unfamiliar world, but they will also light up as he finds a way to connect with his new surroundings. Ray is an unexpected, endearing hero who shines brightly in this tale?and on the glow-in-the-dark cover.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 2-Ray is a light bulb who spends most of his time in a dark closet. When the switch is flipped on, Ray is able to see all of the things he shares with the closet, including book covers, secret hideouts, and Tom the spider. But Ray spends most of his time alone in the dark. And darkness is boring if you don't know how to fill it. Time passes this way, until one day everything changes when Ray is moved to a portable lantern and taken on a trip far away to an unfamiliar landscape. Ray can't figure out where it begins or where it ends. He has never felt so small. Just as Ray is drifting off to sleep, something happens. As the sun slowly rises, Ray feels the glow of "the biggest light bulb in the world." He returns home to the closet and everything looks the same, but for Ray, it is another world entirely. Coppo (Petra) has returned with another lovable new character in Ray, who reminds readers that all it takes is a little change in perspective to open up a whole new world. VERDICT A charming and illuminating story, and a wonderful addition to all libraries.-Elizabeth Blake, Fields Corner Library, Dorchester, MA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.