Description: This lyrical, pay-it-forward story encourages readers to engage with those around them, seeing each similarity and difference as part of the colorful landscape of community.
Brief description: Elly Berke has always loved children's literature and the power of asking good questions. Her earliest influence was Barbara Cooney whom she met in 1991 at a book signing in Damariscotta, Maine. The characters in this story are inspired by people she has met on her professional journey through public education: leading programs at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, teaching ESL in bilingual schools, and studying Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Outside of writing and teaching, she is a professional actor involved in many projects around her local Somerville, MA and virtually through her home voice over studio.
Review Quotes: Berke's sweet tale of the domino effect that starts with one curious and accepting girl's question is sorely needed in this time of division and discord, as is the characters' use of the term "coming-here story" to inquire about others' heritages, rather than the potentially more intrusive "Where are you from?" Powell's soft and welcoming, watercolor like illustrations capture present and past at once as each immigrant's history is revealed.-- "Kirkus Reviews" (8/3/2024 12:00:00 AM)