Review by Booklist Review
Some picture books sneak up on readers and manage to be both gentle and powerful at the same time. Using this prized combination, Westerfeld offers a lyrical answer to the perennial question, Where did I come from? as well as an introduction to DNA and cosmic connectivity. Sparse, well-chosen sentences explain these abstract connections: "Your blood is red with iron. / Calcium hardens your bones, fingernails, / and teeth"; "You are built of stones and soil. // A piece of you waited / in every living thing, / instructions woven / into every cell." Soft illustrations offer dreamy views of a baby hovering in a leafy tree and floating over a calm blue sea, alternating with cozy, relatable family scenes: picking fruit, splashing in the rain, building a snowman. The baby becomes more and more visually defined through the pages and is finally born and welcomed home by their loving parents and older sibling. This quiet account offers reassurance for nascent existentialists and curious siblings while introducing some pretty heady STEM concepts. An excellent choice for bedtime.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The interconnections between self and the universe star in this poetic, science-based work. Making eloquent links ("Before you were here,/ you were waiting...// everywhere"), Westerfeld, making his picture book debut, references the human body's basis in other entities. Musing quatrains consider how "you" were "once the sunshine," as well as rain, minerals, and "every living thing." Using ink, watercolor, and gouache, Lanan's light-filled renderings follow caregivers and a child across the seasons, on alternating spreads envisioning a developing fetus alongside elements of nature ("Our world is mostly sea, and you are mostly water"). The often metaphorical phrases build to a close that centers empowerment and belonging in a welcoming world. Back matter explores the text's scientific basis. Ages 4--8. (Sept.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1--3--This beautifully written book asks readers to connect with every living and nonliving thing around us. For children who wonder where they "were" before they were born, this story explains it in a gentle and comforting way so that in the end, helping them feel and see the interconnections of all things. Stunning illustrations, created with ink, watercolor, and gouache, tenderly guide readers to consider what it means to be part of the sun, water, soil, and even DNA. An author's note in the back matter provides simple, thorough answers to any questions still lingering with readers about how they fit in the world, and how the world, piece by piece, fits them. VERDICT Answering deep questions, this book will encourage meaningful, grounded discussions and will be an important part of the elementary library collection.--Melissa King
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
What we are all made of, from a universal perspective. As Westerfeld rightly points out in his debut picture book, we join every living thing in being composed of rain and sunshine, of iron and certain other elements in "stones and soil"--all of which our DNA endows with the "ticktock of the living world." "Some of you was waiting deep in the earth, / ready to be drawn up by the roots of plants," he muses. He goes on to unpack these lyrically presented notions in the afterword, explaining how DNA chemically codes everybody's plan, that all living things are largely water, and that most depend on the sun's energy in direct and indirect ways. In luminous watercolor and gouache illustrations, Lanan follows a brown-skinned family as they stroll past fruit trees and over puddles and hidden roots in an idealized landscape. As the seasons wheel by in their cycles, the mother shows increasing signs of pregnancy. Eventually, her older child watches wide-eyed as she nurses a newborn beneath a radiant burst of flowers; the child goes on to play joyfully in the snow and, in the summer, with the growing little sibling. A glowing celebration of life, of time, and of how every part of creation connects with every other.(Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
