To Make

PreS-Gr 2–”To make a cake, gather, make, wait,” are the simple, casual words accompanying a small child’s stance in front of a gigantic closet of baking supplies and patience in front of an oven. (Woe to the real-life unsupervised child; for those concerned about danger, the book comes with a beautifully succinct liability disclaimer from author, illustrator, and publisher.) “To make a garden, gather, wait, make.” The vision expands, and there is a song to make, a windchime, plans to make, a friend to make, and so on. The pacing of the rhythmic text is perfectly lilting, paused by punctuation, the turn of a page, or DeRoma’s marvelous details, stopping readers with atmospheric renderings of play spaces just this side of real life. Author and illustrator have created a powerful ode to self-expression that, over time, speaks to others as only the committed maker of things can.