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From Horn Book

July 1, 2018
The daily snapshots of families represented in this poetic, life-affirming paean to love subtly touch on aging, poverty, domestic violence, national tragedies, homelessness, disability, self-acceptance, sacrifice, and loss. Vibrant acrylic and pencil illustrations portray people from a variety of ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds. It's an exquisitely written and illustrated picture book that speaks of how love can percolate up through the most common circumstances.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Horn Book

Starred review from March 1, 2018
De la Pe�a's (Last Stop on Market Street, rev. 3/15) latest picture book is a poetic, life-affirming paean to the nature and power and ubiquity of love. The direct-address text takes the listener from birth ( In the beginning there is light / and two wide-eyed figures standing / near the foot of your bed, / and the sound of their voices is love ) to young adulthood in the manner of Oh, the Places You'll Go! and other bromides. But de la Pe�a keeps it real. The snapshots of the daily lives of families represented in this picture book subtly touch on aging, poverty, domestic violence, national tragedies, homelessness, disability, self-acceptance, sacrifice, and loss ( But it's not only stars that flame out, you discover. / It's summers, too. / And friendships. / And people ). Long's vibrant acrylic and pencil illustrations portray people from a variety of ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds, and include many families of color. The book's climax is a wordless double-page spread of a beautiful, brown-skinned, brown-eyed girl. She wears a serious expression as she studies her own mirrored reflection while the text says: And the face staring back / in the bathroom mirror? / this, too, is love. The affirmations, both from without and from within, make this a book of positivity while avoiding a sugarcoated portrayal of life. An exquisitely written and illustrated picture book that speaks of how love, even when it's difficult to recognize, can percolate up through the most common of daily circumstances. michelle h. martin

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

Starred review from January 1, 2018

Gr 2-5-How do we love and care for one another? Award-winning author de la Pena sets out not only to count the ways but also to help young people recognize and take these tender mercies to heart, especially when times are tough and beyond the control of the adults around them. He defines love in multiple sensory images, brilliantly interpreted and expanded upon in evocative mixed media paintings. Long's use of light and shadow are particularly effective, with love seeming to illuminate and embrace the diverse cast of characters. The spare lyrical text describes the music of parents' voices at the foot of the bed, the colors of the night sky above a family's trailer, or the echo of laughter as kids run through summer sprinklers as just a few of the brighter examples. Yet, small kindnesses can come when least expected, on the streets as fire alarms blare or when trusted adults behave badly and all seems lost. Learning to recognize love in the spirit and actions of others and in one's mirror reflection are among the most important and powerful lessons that life (and this book) can impart. The author ventures that "when the time comes for you to set off on your own," it isn't mere luck that will ensure one's success; it's the ability to accept and to give love that will make all the difference. VERDICT This heartfelt and sensitively rendered picture book meditation begs to be shared and discussed with children, especially those with the maturity and life experience to appreciate the nostalgic tone and the nonlinear and philosophical musings. Spread the love.--Luann Toth, School Library Journal

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Kirkus

Starred review from December 15, 2017
From the moment prose and art appear in the opening spread, de la Pena and Long usher readers into a patient, pensive meditation on love.Love is the sound of the first voices we ever hear; it is the color of the night sky over a happy home; it is the echo of summer laughter. Love is under the stars during a fire alarm, behind a family's worry over a troubled world, and in the reassuring embrace after a bad dream. Love is at the core of family and at the back of sorrow and in the very bones of this book. If it's possible to shout quietly, then de la Pena has mastered the technique. His lyrical prose roars with gentle (and deceptive) simplicity to uncover the everyday and unexpected places where love and sometimes pain reside, giving rise to resilience. Not to be outmatched, Long's illustrations roar right back, crafting mirrors within a gorgeous spectrum of brown skin and glimpses of different lives, shaping reflections within visual perspectives that immerse readers in emotive power. And in a book brimful with potent images, readers are sure to pause at the stunning double-page spread filled with the placid face of a young person of color along with this assertion: "And the face staring back in the bathroom mirror--this, too, is love."Timely, timeless, and utterly necessary. (Picture book. 4-8)

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Booklist

December 1, 2017
Preschool-G Newbery Award-winning de la Pena offers a lyrical ode to love in this stirring picture book. It opens with the loving coos of parents, gazing at their new baby, but the subsequent places where love can be found are less obvious: love emerges in the smell of crashing waves; the rustling leaves of a gnarled tree; in the made-up stories your uncles tell; and the face staring back in the bathroom mirror. In de la Pena's lines, love becomes not just an emotion between people but a feeling suffusing the world. It's not all sunshine, though; he also explores scary moments, when love seems to be missing, but even those can be mitigated by yet more love. In another's hands, this might seem saccharine, but here it's powerful, particularly when paired with deeply expressive, snapshot-like illustrations of people in a broad range of body types and skin tones. Though some of the individual lines might be confounding, the overall sense of comfort and hopefulness they elicit is deeply felt and genuinely uplifting. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Long and De la Pena are each powerhouses on their own. Together, they'll be unstoppable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from October 9, 2017
De la Peña's prose poem speaks right to young children. "In the beginning there is light/ and two wide-eyed figures standing/ near the foot of your bed,/ and the sound of their voices is love," he opens as an interracial couple looks down at a crib. The rest of de la Peña's poem is accompanied by images of families and friends of many different ages and appearances who live in cities and in rural or warm places, such as the group of men seen throwing horseshoes under palm trees. The expressions worn by Long's characters and the way their shoulders are stooped with care make them seem full of love, even when they're playing instruments or fishing. It's not always smooth sailing, and sometimes scary things happen ("One day you find your family/ nervously huddled around the TV"), but comfort is there. "It's okay, it's okay, it's love," says a grown-up offering a child an embrace. People often talk to children about love; in these pages, they can see and feel what it's like. And there's plenty for everybody. Ages 4â€"8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

From AudioFile Magazine

Bill Cosey's male magnetism attracts the women who inhabit Morrison's pages. Some commanding, some flighty, all are drawn to Cosey's passion. Once, Cosey's Hotel and Resort on the beach was the place for "colored folk on the East Coast." Now, the run-down structure is home to his contentious widow and granddaughter. Through a series of retrospectives, the mystery of the questionable circumstances surrounding Cosey's death and his role in each woman's life gradually unfolds. Morrison confronts issues of race in America, particularly the deep disappointment of many African-Americans in the face of ineffectual civil rights legislation. Aching with melancholy for another, better, time, a time left in a troubled past, Morrison's novel combines elegance of language with a lush, luxurious reading to make "must listening." S.J.H. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine