THE GIRL AND THE ROBOT HEART

A girl spins stories on Christmas Eve in a small snowy town.

The child listens as a tiny robot, reminiscent of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, asks a timeless question: “What’s inside a human heart?” Her answer is enthralling: “A thousand rooms” of storybooks and “a galaxy of words.” The robot asks her to make him such a heart, and “so the girl did.” She tells him a story that draws on bits of her own quiet life and town: the square’s “green-faced clock,” the two magpies that can often be found in the tall grass, the golden deer that prance after everyone’s gone to sleep, and the Christmas tree in the center of the town. When the girl wakes up, it’s Christmas morning, and she’s charmed by her gift: a tiny robot bearing a note that urges her to “take your heart in your hands and listen to it so.” So she listens as her own story goes on and widens to include “all our hearts.” The poetic text is perfectly matched with delicate, naïve sketches brightened with pops of amber and red. Soft colors alternate between bright and neutral. Like the heart, the images pulse in a rhythm that expands to embrace the outside and contracts again to focus on the girl and her loving home. The girl and her family are light-skinned.

This book’s heart soars far beyond its yuletide setting.