ONE SMALL MOMENT

A kid is strapped for an idea for a school assignment.

The young narrator loves receiving lunchbox notes from Mom and backpack drawings from Mama. The child wants to “write like Mom does” and “draw nice pictures like Mama” but feels less than talented; both moms, who are apparently divorced—the narrator goes back and forth between their homes—encourage patience. One day at school, Ms. Blake gives the students an interesting assignment: to write and illustrate a story “about one small thing that happened to us in real life.” The fretful narrator is stuck for an idea until the day Mama brings out beloved dog-stuffie Purple Eli, which calls to mind something that happened with “the real Eli,” and a story revolving around the two Elis ends up being the perfect subject for the assignment. The particularity of the plot doesn’t make it obviously relatable to readers—not having a subject for a school assignment probably isn’t a common problem among this book’s target audience—but readers may empathize when Videlo’s mixed-media art, full of well-defined shapes with mottled surfaces, captures the frustrated narrator’s scribbled-out writing and drawing efforts. The book also offers a good, naturalistic look at a child’s easy navigation of life with parents who live apart. The protagonist and Mom are pale-skinned; Mama is brown-skinned.

A confidence booster for aspiring writers.