Retazos

November 1, 2022
A rhythmic text speaks to an unnamed child in the second person, describing what "we see" and how that trait or characteristic may inform a young person's future identity (for better or worse) and how they might see themself. In the first vignette, readers meet a child identified with "blue" at a gender-reveal party. With the page-turn, we learn they are "blue dressed in blue," but their paintbrush at times "hovers above the pink." As the character matures, though, "the color you will come to love most / is brown" -- presumably the brown of their own skin. De la Pena's text does not specify whether it's directed at one figure or many, but Luyken illustrates each vignette with a different child, all part of a multiracial cast: a dance-loving tot grows up to find rhythm in computer code; a young athlete ("You are basketball-baseball-futbol-any-kind-of-ball") becomes a bilingual poet; a class clown becomes a compassionate teacher. Luyken's backgrounds feature brushy squares, a visual motif that plays on the title. The "we" that observes and speaks to each character becomes broadly expansive at the end, enfolding narrator, characters, and readers: "We are beautiful." Gentle and affirming. Vicky Smith

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