The World Belongs to You

Gr 2–5—Brief text that comes full circle and digitally created illustrations, most of them graphic symbols on a predominantly white ground, combine to deliver a message: "You are free to be loved./Or not.…to play….to learn"; "to love anyone you want…"; "to be happy." While the figure of a ghost accompanying the words "You are free to believe in anything you want" is perhaps a strange choice, most of the graphics work well. For example, various shapes are scattered across a spread with the words, "You are free." A page turn reveals those same symbols assembled close together across the gutter with the words "But you have limits" alongside. Above the words "You are free to be loved" is an open window with a container of growing flowers. A window with shuttered blinds on the facing page appears above the phrase, "Or not." Nor is freedom enjoyed without cost. A triple-dip ice-cream cone accompanies, "You are free to be happy." On the opposite page, the cone's contents spill out of it, with the sentence beneath declaring, "But it won't always be easy." Pitched as a book for life's special turning points, the message here is nothing new, and youngsters will likely not be drawn to this title on their own. Nevertheless, the creation of meaning through the placement of graphics on a page might be worth discussion.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT