The Road Home

Four parent-child pairs - birds, mice, wolves, and rabbits - prepare for winter in this absolutely gorgeous picture-book, respectively flying south, building a nest, hunting for food, and fleeing before the hunter. The rhyming text sets out each of their actions, and laments the difficulties they

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face: "Our wings are sore. / There's far to go / before our flight is flown. / This road is hard, this road is long, / this road that leads us home." At the end of the book, a note of comfort is sounded, as the refrain is slightly reworked: "This road is hard, this road is long, / but we are not alone. / For you are here, and I'm with you... / ...and so this road is home."

I was drawn to The Road Home by the beautiful cover design and art, and the illustrations I found within did not disappoint. Sarah Jacoby's paintings, done in watercolor and enhanced digitally, are breathtaking, capturing the beauty of the natural world and the changing of the seasons. The visuals work well with the text, expanding upon the story found in the brief lines, and enhancing their emotional power. I was pleased to discover, having approached this one for the art, that the text was also quite beautiful, and I appreciated the ways in which Katie Cotton contrasted certain things - the hunger of the wolves in a cold world; the terror of the rabbits, fleeing before the wolves - while bringing it all together again in the end. Whether predator or prey, all the creatures here are caught up in one interconnected dance of life. Beautiful and poignant, reassuring without being saccharine, this is one I would recommend to anyone looking for new picture-books that celebrate the seasons, the natural world, or the connection between parents and children.

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