Windows, by Julia Denos/Illustrated by EB Goodale, (Oct. 2017, Candlewick Press), $15.99, ISBN: 978-0-7636-9035-9
Recommended for readers 3-8
“At the end of each day, before the town goes to sleep, you can look out your window…” A child of color puts on a red hoodie sweatshirt and takes the dog for a walk around the neighborhood. Each set of windows reveals a different story; the neighborhood holds its own sights to behold. As child and dog return home, mom is waiting at the window, ready for a cuddly storytime.
Windows is beautiful storytelling. EB Goodale’s ink, watercolor, letterpress and digital collage illustrations provide texture and warmth to Julia Denos’ gorgeous words: the windows look like “a neighborhood of paper lanterns”; windowpanes provide a bath of “squares of light” for a raccoon; an empty house waits to be filled with new stories. The child can be male or female; the red hooded sweatshirt evokes memories of Peter, the star of Ezra Jack Keats’ classic, The Snowy Day. The warmth of home brings child and dog back to a loving caregiver, a story, and a comfortable rug. I just want to wrap myself in the warmth of this book with my 5 year old and a mug of hot chocolate; I’m sure you will, too. Add this one to your bedtime rotation with Akiko Miyakoshi’s The Way Home in the Night.
Windows has multiple starred reviews: Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.
Mom Read It 