A Thousand No's

June 15, 2020
Corchin and Doughtery combine talents in this metaphorical tale of creativity, resilience, and growth mindset. This book's noseless, bristly-ponytailed protagonist has a great idea (never named but represented visually as a glowing egg), but like many ideas, it runs into hiccups along the way to fruition, including daunting opposition. What seemed like a simple and clever idea at first quickly meets many, many "No"s. The naysayers and critiques are heavy and painful at first and quickly become overwhelming until "No"s in a dizzying variety of typefaces litter the page. But when she decides to solicit feedback, at first reluctantly, she becomes curious about her idea and how the "No"s might help it along, turning 1,000 "No"s into one big, brilliant "Yes." The message is straightforward without being heavy-handed: Even though feedback can be difficult to hear, it ultimately leads to positive results. The black-and-white line-drawn illustrations have a Tim Burton vibe at the start, but they grow more colorful as the protagonist's attitude changes and "No"s pour in, expanding the allegory visually. The final, humongous, multicolored "YES" is made up of all the myriad "No"s. Characters are uniformly depicted with paper-white skin, but hairstyle hints at racial diversity, and one character uses a wheelchair. This will surely find a home alongside similar favorites from the likes of Peter H. Reynolds and Kathryn Otoshi. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.3-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.) Grit and imagination combine to turn "No" into a definite "Yes." (Picture book. 5-8)

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