ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
PICTURE BOOKS
Killian, Alex

In-Between Places

40 pp. | Chronicle | April, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9781452172798 $17.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Grady McFerrin. The in-between places, we learn, are neither here nor there. They "are not up or down, not in or out. They're not all the way to one side or the other." Killian (This Table, rev. 3/24) goes on to describe what in-between places can be: bridges and ladders; staircases and slides; a long, dark tunnel; dawn and dusk; and even dreams. On one spread, a bus full of people goes in one direction while bicyclers determinedly go in another; you're "between where you're going and where you've been." McFerrin's imaginative illustrations make the most of Killian's open-ended musings. Full-bleed double-page spreads, saturated in bold colors, provide detailed scenes to pore over, from the everyday (a car trip) to the adventurous (a descent by parachute; a hot-air balloon ride) to the fanciful (a dream's make-believe animals). Many images emphasize forward motion such as a spread showing a child mid-launch from a tire swing into a body of blue water. As the text says, eventually you might "choose...to leap!" which can "lead to just where you wanted to be" or "to more in-between places...or somewhere unexpected." There is a world of possibilities. Pair with two other recent contemplative picture books: Völker's Are We There Yet? (rev. 9/23) and Schwartz's Head Full of Clouds (rev. 3/25).
Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

RELATED 

PICTURE BOOKS

Born Ready
by Patterson, Jodie
PICTURE BOOKS

The House of Grass and Sky
by Ray, Mary Lyn
PICTURE BOOKS

The Dog's Gardener
by Storms, Patricia
PICTURE BOOKS

And I Paint It
by Kephart, Beth
PICTURE BOOKS

Poem in My Pocket
by Tougas, Chris
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?