You will linger over the words on each page of Matt de la Peña’s (Last Stop on Market Street) newest picture book, Love.
Illustrated by Loren Long (creator of the Otis the Tractor series), this is an
ode to kindness, to the forms of love we share in our families and in our
communities that are not celebrated on a Hallmark card. This book shows love’s
many and varied journey through the world. The narrative voice in this book
speaks to the child and leads the young reader by the hand to show examples of
love that a child may not recognize. The images de la Peña uses to describe
love are from the child’s point of view. The very first illustration is from
the child’s vantage point in a crib looking up at his/her parents, with the words,
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.
The narrative voice goes on to call the music in the back
of the cab driver’s cab, the color of the sky at sunset, and after playing in
summer sprinklers, the narrator says to the child, “the echo of your laughter
is love.”
And yet, love is not just in things seen or heard in the
natural world, but most importantly, the selfless actions of one human for
another. The turning point of this picture book is where Loren Long shows two
young boys, perhaps brothers, the elder holding out a piece of toast to his
younger brother, where a figure outside the window walks in the snow towards
the bus. Accompanying that illustration are the words:
And in
time you learn to recognize
a love
overlooked
A love
that wakes at dawn and
rides to
work on the bus.
A slice
of burned toast that tastes like love.
The full
effect of this book is magnificent. Matt de la Peña’s words shine through his
gift for lyricism, his finger on the pulse of those small moments that often go
unseen, but are, indeed, love.
