MILES AHEAD

A family gets ready to hit the road to celebrate a new member’s arrival.

“ROAD TRIP!!!” thunders a child filling a backpack in preparation for a car trip to meet a new cousin. The other road trippers include the kid’s mom and dad and what appear to be a teenage sibling (“Hey, genius: did you remember to pack underwear and socks?”) and a grandparent, all of whom present East Asian. Also accompanying them is the titular Miles, a white terrier whose barks and “Mwroofs,” along with the family’s dialogue and the odd noise, are the story’s only text. Everyone is seat-belted into the car when…“Wait, you remembered the present, right?” “I thought YOU had the gift.” The family’s scramble to locate the present inside the house leads to diversions. The kid finds a beloved baby blanket; the teenager finds a favorite old stuffie. These discoveries inspire shared reminiscences, which, with an assist from Miles, spark the kid’s brainstorm: What’s a more meaningful baby gift than these long-treasured family keepsakes? Lê’s sweet tale of a loving family that problem-solves together reads like an extended comic strip. Bontigao’s clean-lined digital panel work contains fun-to-spot rewards, among them old photos of the siblings and the answer to the book’s big question: What happened to the original baby gift?

An encouraging story starring a family whose heart and values are in the right place.