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PICTURE BOOKS
Handy, Bruce

What If One Day...

80 pp. | Enchanted Lion | September, 2023 | Trade ISBN 9781592703838 $19.95
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin. This playful and introspective book asks readers to ponder what the world would be like if things taken for granted disappeared. What if "all the birds flew away"? What if "all the water disappeared"? What if "the sun never set"? Handy presents eight of these scenarios, each one imaginatively exploring what might happen in Corrin's energetic, full-bleed illustrations dominated by vivid ambers. If the birds flew away, for instance, skies would be "plainer." There's much humor here too. If the birds did indeed fly away, worms could take it easy--Corrin's illustration depicts worms lounging on beach chairs and reading books--and if all the water disappeared, soap would fail to work. (The absence of color results in some humorous crayon names: "Dirty Snow" and "Deepening Gloom.") The text succeeds on many levels; children are subtly prompted to consider the effects of climate change (if there were no more people, nature "could relax") yet to also ponder our creative contributions ("there would be no more music or art or stories or dancing"). Each scenario concludes with an exuberant statement in the affirmative to enthusiastically remind readers of the delights of their planet: "But there is WATER!" and "But there are COLORS!" The pitch-perfect ending invites discovery, asking us to contemplate the "something" missing "because it hadn't been dreamt of yet."
Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

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