Hope in a Jar
by Deborah Marcero; illus. by the author
Primary    Putnam    40 pp.
2/25    9780593696699    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593696705    $10.99

Marcero continues the picture-book adventures of Llewellyn (In a Jar; Out of a Jar, rev. 3/22), a young white rabbit who collects the ineffable—here his hopes and dreams—in an attempt to better understand and control his life. He finds two like-minded friends at the playground, and the trio starts collecting things together. The gentle gradation of hues and delicate textures in Marcero’s cartoon illustrations serve as approachable scaffolding on which to hang big ideas. Her depictions of hopes in jars (visiting a “faraway friend,” getting a part in a play, flying in a rocket) create a visual path through the first half of the book, and she wields light and shadow to add drama. When the sky darkens and a storm destroys their jars, Llewellyn and his friends despair: “What was the point of dreaming if everything could be lost?” One last jar contains a bright yellow butterfly, though, which restores their hope, and they start collecting dreams again—some they keep, some they realize, and some they let go “to make room for the unexpected.” A story with philosophical subject matter and a nuanced and subdued approach to it.

From the March/April 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.