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Driscoll, Amanda

Under Anna's Umbrella

32 pp. | Penguin/Rocky Pond | April, 2025 | Trade ISBN 9780593618561 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 9780593618578 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Luisa Uribe. After a funeral (for her father, the illustrations imply), Anna hides under a large umbrella everywhere she goes, creating a physical and emotional barrier between her and the world around her. "Under her umbrella, Anna felt safe." She is teased and urged to change her ways, but she is unwilling. One stormy day, she sees another child getting rained on; sharing this protective space helps Anna reduce her dependence on it. The umbrella serves as an effective metaphor for grief. The repetition of "under her umbrella, Anna felt..." reflects her trajectory from anger to sadness to loneliness to, eventually, feeling "light and free" without reliance on the covering. Uribe's digital illustrations evoke the somber mood; the unified color palette lightens as Anna connects with a new friend and begins to reemerge into the world. The spare language creates space for the book to be read on many levels—through the lens of how grief affects day-to-day life but also as a story about letting go of attachment objects, making a friend, and doing things at your own pace. This sensitive tale would pair well with Stead's Anything or Bonilla's The Hole (both rev. 3/25).
Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

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