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PICTURE BOOKS
Lê, Minh

Built to Last

40 pp. | Knopf | April, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9780593569177 $18.99 | Library ISBN 9780593569184 $21.99 | Ebook ISBN 9780593569191 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dan Santat. In this entertaining picture book, the duo behind Drawn Together (rev. 7/18) explores friendship and resilience through imaginative play. The two main characters first meet as toddlers after bumping into each other while playing with blocks. As they grow older, their friendship and their creations evolve: the ever-more-elaborate structures incorporate Asian mythological motifs and use a variety of materials, including cardboard, tape, wood, and paint. Each time, their project fails. An argument over the collapse of a creation leads to an important epiphany: "Some things are too important to give up on. Some things deserve to be repaired, no matter how many times they break." Lê's succinct, expressive storytelling and Santat's vivid colored-pencil, watercolor, and digital illustrations are both energetic celebrations of these particular, fictional projects and friendships and a possible metaphor for all such creative collaborations (and those characters do bear some resemblance to their creators).
Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

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