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PRESCHOOL
Trinder, Theresa

There Is a Rainbow

48 pp. | Chronicle | January, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-7972-1166-4 $15.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Grant Snider. A reassuring text and upbeat illustrations get to the heart of our shared COVID-19 experience--gently acknowledging loss and uncertainty while offering a message of hope and resilience. Trinder's spare text leaves plenty of room for Snider's textured colored-pencil pictures to tell a story that's grounded in specifics--school on screens, masked neighbors--yet universal in feeling. On the title-page spread, a boy with brown skin and a yellow jacket approaches a girl with light skin and puffy orange pigtails. She waves as she draws with sidewalk chalk; he waves, too, and carries his own chalk. The text opens with a simple truth: "A story has a beginning and an end"; the illustration shows the two kids collaborating on a rainbow drawing. With a page-turn, the rain starts to fall, and the friends part ways. We next see the girl sitting alone on her front stoop, watching their rainbow wash away: "And there is something in between." The book's focus is on that "something": remote classrooms ("On the other side of a screen // there is a school"), signs of encouragement and support on sidewalks and in windows (including a BLM sign), neighbors helping neighbors, and essential workers on the job. There's also weariness and sadness: "On the other side of sadness // There are hugs." The boy and girl appear throughout in separate scenes until the final one, which shows them walking--unmasked! less than six feet apart!--into school. "On the other side of today // there is tomorrow." Trinder's compassionate words and Snider's vibrant art are just right for this moment.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

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