Using bright and multi-textured mosaics to illustrate each insightful rhyme, Galasso's picture book imparts profound words of wisdom on the importance of equality, generosity, love, kindness, and friendship. Young readers are first invited to accept others regardless of their appearance, and this message is reinforced by the accompanying illustration of a mouse alongside an elephant. Along the same lines, children are encouraged to be helpful leaders and seek out those who are most in need of friendship. Paired with eye-catching mosaics of a flowing breeze and heart-shaped flowers, readers are then reminded that love is infinite. After asking readers to make friends and also make amends, Galasso confidently wraps up this picture book with a rallying cry on the importance of helping one another by maintaining "character, honesty, and trust."
Young readers will be inspired by Galasso's warm-hearted rhymes as well as her vibrant and imaginative illustrations. Each well-crafted mosaic invites readers of all ages to pause and appreciate the various colors and textures that are skillfully combined to render an image that cleverly complements each tender passage. Indeed, these images seem to jump from the page just as the simple rhymes reveal important truths. Together, these passages and illustrations produce a reading experience that will motivate young readers to reach out to others with a spirit of generosity and kindness and perhaps also explore their own creative impulses to transform what may seem like small bits and pieces into objects of beauty. In the spirit of inviting readers to take these ideas and make a greater difference, Galasso perceptively closes her book with a blank page and a simple heading: "How can you help make the world a better place."
RECOMMENDED by the US Review