TODAY IS THE DAY

Can a day have an existential crisis?

“A day can never take a day off. It always has so much to do.” After it begins, it is “welcomed, grumbled at, or ignored.” Over the next 24 hours, thousands of people will be born and thousands will die. Yet this day has a moment of doubt when it realizes that for the average human, “it is only one of 27,000 days in their lifetimes.” How important could it be then? A single mayfly, alive for this day alone, helps it to reassess. Contemplative yet perfectly calibrated for young readers’ sensibilities, Wallace’s text homes in on what makes every day glorious and strange and different. She urges readers to appreciate their lives while also acknowledging how vast the world is; each and every day, people are observing their own moments of triumph and sadness—moments we will never know. Rex’s artistic style, which already tends toward the chaotic, finds drive, purpose, and pleasure in bringing to ribald life an eclectic diversity of people. Fun backmatter rounds up all kinds of facts about what may happen in a single day, like estimates of how many teeth are lost (around 7.6 million), as well as drawing and writing prompts.

A joyous celebration of life and all its myriad wonders.