MAY'S BRAVE DAY

A first-day-of-school book focused on the quiet side of worry.

May, a light-skinned, red-haired girl, can’t eat her toast—the butterflies in her tummy are fluttering too hard. So she heads to the garden, where she lets a ladybug run over her hand, watches a bee fly by, and gazes at the goldfish in the pond, wishing she could trade places with the creatures she observes. Though she jumps, skips, and hops, she can’t banish the butterflies. It takes readers some time to learn the source of May’s fears: school. But when she finally goes, she finds a new friend, and the butterflies slowly subside. Matter-of-fact prose pairs with poetic musings (“butterflies like to live in gardens much more than they like to live inside children”) and will resonate with adults and more introspective kids. Morris’ muted illustrations, rendered in watercolor, collage, crayon, and colored pencil, make effective use of negative space; the sharp reds of the wallpaper and the jelly on May’s toast offer hints to her inner turmoil, while calm blues, yellows, and greens bring to life an idyllic garden setting and a classroom populated by diverse students. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Contemplative fare for thoughtful young worriers.