Choose Your Days

March 7, 2016
Nebraska-based artist Wallace quietly exhorts readers to make the most of their time on Earth as she follows a girl named Corky from her birth to the other end of her lifespan. Wallace's language and imagery can be both playful and enigmaticâthis is a story that challenges readers to think, rather than hitting them over the head with obvious messages and directives. After Corky is born, she is visited by Old Bear, "keeper of time and keys," and a deity of sorts. He leaves her with a "calendar for all of her days," lists to be filled with dreams and actions, and some advice: "Choose your days, make them sunny or gray." Wispy paintings chart Corky's growth in a lovely sequence of pages that shows her riding tricycles and bicycles as she ages into an elderly woman with a kerchief and cane. She asks Old Bear for more time, "For work undone. For play postponed. For music unsung," and while she doesn't appear to get any additional time, she does eke out a few last adventures. It's never too late, Wallace suggests, until it is. Ages 3â7.

Starred review from February 1, 2016
With the help of Old Bear, Corky lives her life intentionally. Old Bear is the "keeper of time and keys," and when Corky is born, the big, pillowy-looking old ursine gives the little dark-haired, white child her days, two empty lists (one for dreams and one for things to do), her key, and a simple, whispered instruction: "Choose your days, make them sunny or gray." She takes it seriously. Waking up beneath a clock with an urgent reminder instead of numbers--"Get up! You have stuff to do. Get up!"--Corky grows, moving from tricycle to two-wheeler, aging and becoming stooped over the course of two double-page spreads backgrounded with painterly strokes of aquamarine. Even aged, Corky still wants to pursue "work undone...play postponed...music unsung," but eventually she must use her key to unlock the door to death, where Old Bear is waiting comfortingly. Wallace's illustrations are metaphorical and cozy, her pointy-nosed protagonist perpetually clad in red shoes and scarf, striped stockings, and a comfy brown dress. Generous white space encompasses both protagonist and symbols of passing time (calendar pages, the stub of a pencil), giving children the emotional room to contemplate Corky's progress. This is the kind of book that will stick with readers, a meditation that they may not understand now but that, if digested, could have magical results. (Picture book. 3-6)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2016

Gr 2-4-Old Bear is there when Corky is born, and as he is the keeper of time and keys, he provides her with calendars for all her days. And so Corky lives, filling her lists of things to dream and to do, her growth to old age portrayed by two spreads of bike riding: a tricycle with a teddy bear, and a two-wheeler with a cane propped on the back tire. With just a few days left, Corky asks Old Bear for more time, to find that she holds the key and can choose how she fills the remainder of her days. Though the large stretches of color and organic shapes painted with heavy brushstrokes have visual kid appeal, younger readers may not be able to grasp the sophisticated themes of aging, living life to the fullest, and accepting death or any kind of change with grace.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.