Status
Available
Publication
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2019), Edition: Illustrated, 40 pages
Library's review
aldecott Honoree Mora (Thank You, Omu!, 2018) returns in this sophomore offering about a mother and daughter’s special Saturday.
Young protagonist Ava and her mother love their Saturdays together. Ava’s mother works, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,” so Saturday is
Special and splendid. (Picture book. 4-9)
Young protagonist Ava and her mother love their Saturdays together. Ava’s mother works, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,” so Saturday is
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their special day. The pairs’ smiles and Ava’s outflung hands convey excitement, while realistic details such as Ava’s mother’s sleep scarf add authenticity. In vignettes, Mora’s collage art chronicles some of their past adventures and shows them performing various actions in a circle of repeated figures (clearly intended to convey the passage of time), preparing for their day. Discerning readers may spy something left behind as they head out. Things start to go awry almost immediately, but Ava’s mother is full of reassurances, and they have a strategy for dealing with disappointment: pause, close their eyes, breathe deep, and move on. But after the biggest disappointment comes at the end of a daylong string of them, it’s Ava who brings comfort to her mother in a touching moment that may bring tears to readers’ eyes. Though not a preachy book, it offers lessons that are both beautiful and useful. Ava and her mother are black, with skin of different hues of browns, while other characters are an array of skin tones. How wonderful: a book with both racial diversity and class diversity that feels authentic.Special and splendid. (Picture book. 4-9)
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Awards
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (Picture Books — 2019)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Winner — Picture Book — 2020)
Monarch Award (Nominee — 2023)
Kentucky Bluegrass Award (Nominee — Preschool — 2022)
Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — Juvenile Literature — 2020)
Bridge to Reading Picture Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Charlotte Zolotow Award (Honor Book — 2020)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Primary — 2021)
Mind the Gap Awards (2020)
Three Stars Book Award (Nominee — Young Readers — 2022)
Ladybug Picture Book Award (Nominee — 2020)
New England Book Award (Finalist — 2020)
CCBC Choices (2020)
Read Aloud Indiana Book Award (Primary — 2021)
Notable Children's Book (Younger Readers — 2020)
Nerdy Book Award (2019)
Picture This Recommendation List (Fiction — 2020)
Evanston Public Library 101 Great Books for Kids (Picture Books — 2019)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Picture Books — 2019)
Texas 2x2 Reading List (2020)
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0316431273 / 9780316431279