Here is another picture book that I’ve enjoyed. I only discovered this one today when it was picked out of a pile by a young girl I was reading with.

The story is simple. It is about a child’s route home with his grandmother after school. He wishes he could drive away in a car like his friend Colby, but his grandmother insists the bus will be fine. And it is. On the journey he meets the people from his community, and sees how his grandmother interacts with them, gently showing him how much he can learn and enjoy from their company. Their bus journey ends at the last stop on Market Street, which is in a raggedy neighbourhood. The boy is a little unnerved as they make they way through it to the soup kitchen, where his grandmother is soon serving the others.

It is a quiet book with strong themes that don’t dominate the story too much. Instead they are woven cleverly into the words or picked up by the pictures in such a way that they let the journey take us to the end of the book. I thought it was such a powerful combination. The text is by Matt de la Peña, and the pictures by Christian Robinson.

When the young girl and I reached the end of the book I flipped to the back cover and saw that it had a small picture at the top with the words “Gold Medal Selection – Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library”. I was so excited to read this, as I’d heard often about the free books delivered to children from Dolly Parton, and here in my hands, was one of them.

These are some of the words on that back cover, describing her hopes for the books:

“… Dolly understands that reading is the key to a strong education, and that a child’s imagination is the centre of his/her dreams and creativity. By combining the two, this programme inspires children to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more …”

I thought this book did all of that.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023