BECCA & BUBBE'S BUCKET LIST

A young girl and her grandmother enjoy a memorable summer.

Becca and Bubbe, both pale-skinned and Jewish, are celebrating the first day of summer vacation with ice cream. When Becca wishes she could try the store’s enormous Trash Can Sundae (“It feeds twenty people!”), Bubbe tells her to put it on her bucket list (“a list of things you want to do sometime in your life”). Bubbe’s done most of the things on her own list—except for walking the runway in a gorgeous ensemble. Intrigued, Becca creates a summer bucket list, and the two begin crossing off activities, with help from friends: having a water balloon fight, sleeping under the stars on the roof, and running a lemonade stand. The ocean swim is almost jettisoned when Becca holds back, terrified of the power of the waves, but Bubbe takes her hand, and they swim together. Then Becca, who’s been working hard over the summer with the neighborhood grannies and kids, surprises Bubbe by making the final item on her grandmother’s bucket list a reality. “I’m verklempt,” Bubbe replies, and the two hug. Sprinkled with Bubbe’s Yiddish expressions, Gehl’s lively text evokes an intergenerational relationship characterized by trust, joy, and tenderness. Rich with background details, Baker’s lovely, soft-hued illustrations depict a fully realized urban landscape, populated by a diverse community.

Sure to have readers verklempt.