Here Is a Book
by Elisha Cooper; illus. by the author
Primary    Abrams    40 pp.
4/25    9781419766756    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781647009366    $17.09

“Here is a book” that seeks to connect children and their daily lives to art and the process of creation. Long, list-like sentences meander across multiple spreads, creating a meditative mood while encouraging page-turns. Cooper begins by describing an artist’s garden “made with sun, rain, dirt, shovels, seeds, and love”; her home “built with wood, hammers, paint, brushes, a shingled roof, and care”; and her studio “overflowing with paper, pencils, watercolors, brushes, sketches, drafts, a wastebasket, a light, a desk, a chair, music, tea, days, nights, art, and wonder.” The artist bikes her art to her publisher in a nearby town, who lays it out and sends it to the printer, who distributes the book. Watercolor and pencil illustrations in dreamy blues set indistinct figures with varied skin tones in robust settings, encouraging readers to imagine themselves doing things like working in a printing factory or driving a truck cross-country. The book the artist created ultimately arrives at a school, and a child brings it home to her room “overflowing with paper, pencils, a desk, a chair, stuffed bears, hot chocolate, days, nights, art, and wonder.” Then she begins creating her own book. This reverie made manifest will be welcome in classrooms, libraries, and homes that value reading and art.

From the May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.