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YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF

Name: YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF
Author: Tai Snaith
ISBN: 978-1-76076-033-5

by Tai Snaith ; illustrated by Tai Snaith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2020

For readers ready to ponder the future or as an alternative to Oh, the Places You’ll Go in graduation season.

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Bright collages show a young person visiting different locations and finding ways to make positive impacts wherever they go.

“Life is like a winding path, with lots of different places to discover along the way.” The young person on the verso is about to cross the threshold from a house’s interior to a torn-paper path that leads to distant hills visible from a picture window across the page’s gutter. As with all the art, there are myriad details for pleasurable pondering. In the foreground, viewers will find a wood-grained table, books and statuary on bookshelves, a cat, wall posters, and more. The recto continues with what sets the tone for the rest of the book: “If you could go anywhere, imagine where you might find yourself.” The remainder of the book has readers imagining themselves in places as varied as a rainforest and a crowded subway car as it briefly explores such separate ideas as paleontology, farming, and musicianship with extraterrestrials. The art and text are often delightfully whimsical, as in a funny tribute to the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden.” More-serious images include the apparently White protagonist respectfully sharing a campfire with an Aboriginal didgeridoo player. The accessible text always encourages readers to make life choices that uphold values such as helping, sharing, and togetherness, expanded in the backmatter. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

For readers ready to ponder the future or as an alternative to Oh, the Places You’ll Go in graduation season. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-76076-033-5

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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MAYA'S BIG QUESTION

From the Ambitious Girl series , Vol. 3

by Meena Harris ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 3, 2026

Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model.

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The third title in the Ambitious Girl series finds young Maya wanting accomplished women to get their due.

On a school trip to Washington, D.C., brown-skinned, bubble-braided Maya is full of questions, among them “How many representatives are there?” and, while checking out the statues and monuments, “Where are all the women?” Maya’s teacher tells her that they’ve seen all the “popular” statues and monuments. Maya is as dogged (“But what about Eleanor Roosevelt? Or Mary McLeod Bethune?”) as her teacher is dismissive: “Those aren’t on my list.” (Maya’s teacher follows the same list every trip.) Back at home, Maya is newly awakened to the lack of female representation in her orbit—she notices that streets and “even her own school” are named for men. Is there anything she can do about this? Maya’s teacher’s cluelessness feels a bit implausible, more like a plot device to steer the story in the right direction, but Maya’s righteous indignation is believable, and her corresponding activism will energize readers. Valdez gets into the spirit of things with her invigorating digital art: Maya and her multiethnic classmates and neighbors are colorful dressers with smiling faces, which fosters a sense that wherever Maya goes, a warm and ebullient community is there for her.

Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026

ISBN: 9780316561341

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
AMBITIOUS GIRL
by Meena Harris ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez

- BOOK REVIEW
KAMALA AND MAYA'S BIG IDEA
by Meena Harris ; illustrated by Ana Ramírez González

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CLAYMATES

by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...

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Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.

A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)