My Island

PreS-Gr 2–In spare, yet lyrical prose, a fair-skinned child with straight, brown hair and rosy cheeks describes the wonders of their island home. The unnamed island is a magical place, where snails are tame, clouds are shared and eaten, and flowers are always blooming. The whimsical and surreal journey concludes with an invitation welcoming anyone to the island if they can sing, share, and dream. The illustrations, rendered with watercolors, colored pencils, and red thread, are a riot of geometric patterns relying heavily on red, yellow, and bluish-green hues. Size and scale are upended in an Alice in Wonderland fashion. In one illustration the child’s enormous head appears to be the island itself, with just their eyes poking up above the green ocean. On another spread, the child and their animal friends sit in giant plastic dishes and utensils, while enjoying cake in a vast picnic basket. Originally published in French, the simple text is open-ended, allowing readers to spend time exploring the illustrations or their own daydreams. Without any danger or conflict, this book functions more as an illustrated poem, rather than a story.