This 40-page-book may have a simple title, but most of us know, there is nothing simple about love, and this book shows love in many forms from a child’s perspective as they grow. Sometimes picture books are basic and inspired to teach, or simply entertain. Sometimes when picture books try to do more, the audience is confused when the pictures and amount of text on page don’t seem to align. And sometimes, large pictures, with thoughtful poetry make the pages come to life and sing. The book is written on an AR 3.7, so people thinking this book is for preschool aged children seem to be upset by the concepts hinted at and illustrated, but for older kids, this book has amazing power, and beauty that can show just how complex this universal feeling is.
Love is your parent’s voice, love is burnt toast, love is the stars after your house burns down, love is in your grandpa’s wrinkles, love is staring back at you in the bathroom mirror. But sometimes love also burns out and love is shielding you from things that might hurt you, and love separates people too.
As humans, we can all relate to the same emotions, whether we give and receive love the same, the book shows the value and meaning it has to us all. Hurray for illustrator Loren Long, because page after page, shows diversity of color, mobility, socio economics, age, and religion. On a page where the love of the child is keeping her from seeing the TV that the family is crowded around a cross is present, and then a few pages later,bam, there is a girl in hijab looking up at the trees and listening to the love shared in their rustling.
I had no idea this illustration was present, and gasped aloud. I said nothing to my daughter, finished the book, and handed it to her to read. She turned the page and gasped aloud as well saying, “there’s a muhajaba, haha, we are in it too.” Granted she is my daughter, so environment and genes account for something, but EVERY PAGE I think resonates with someone, and that gasp in my living room from me, from her, could come from anyone who turns a page in this book and bam suddenly feels represented, feels included, feels validated. That my friends, is LOVE.
We are more alike than different.
One could argue that countless people are misplaced each day due to war, and we overlook it because it is easier than dealing with it, so why care about a cat. And to that I challenge the skeptic, animal lover or not, to read this book and not have your heart-strings tugged.
The book is done beautifully. The pictures are warm and endearing and are the only proof that the family is Muslim, by their hijabs. The love the family has for their pet is expressed in the illustrations, and even more so by the real photographs at the end of the book following the Note from Doug and Amy. At 48 pages the book works really well for 3rd grade and up (it isn’t AR) who can marvel at the cat’s journey. I particularly think this book is a great way to show children another aspect of refugees. There are a fair amount of books that talk about the refugee experience or show refugees getting adjusted to a new home. But, this is a great way to show that refugees are not just defined by a word. They are vibrant individual people just like everyone else. By focusing on the cat and his journey, the reader sees what a refugee goes through, particularly this family, and hopefully will stop and think about it. But it doesn’t just show the family in that capacity, it shows them as a vibrant family who loves and desperately misses their cat- something more children may be able to relate to.
Islamic School Librarian 