Another lovely picture book I picked up browsing- just because I liked the cover so much. This was another one with a strong metaphor for an emotional struggle, in this case based on the author’s own experience, as he eloquently explains in the final pages. A young boy spends most of his days in silence, dreading the moments he’ll be asked to speak in class. He has a stutter: the words come out broken, jumbled, confused- or not at all. After a particularly difficult day at school, his father takes him to the riverside and points out that while the river has choppy and rough water, it also has calm and placid moments. Just like his speech. The images in this book are simple, calm and beautiful. I was really taken by one picture that had reflections in layers of color across each other (boy looking out of a window). How the light glows through his ears, dances in jots of light off the water, etc. You can almost feel it moving. I was a tad surprised to find some reviews online criticizing this book for being unhelpful to any child with a speech disorder- but I don’t think it was meant to give coaching on how to deal with the impediment or stutter itself, just imparting a feeling of acceptance and understanding between parent and child. To give the boy reassurance that good moments were among the bad, and he could find his calm. That was my impression.
Borrowed from the public library.