August 1, 2022
Preschool-Grade 2 Woodson and Espinosa's energetic reminiscence of 1970s Brooklyn joyfully celebrates the freedom of a summer spent playing all over the neighborhood. An open fire hydrant splashes passersby, mothers keep watch over for children from their windows, and fun is everywhere! Inevitably, there are also scrapes and tears but, importantly, a friend to help brush it off. Whispers about people from the block who became famous give the summer an extra dose of possibility and hope, and neighbors in the tight-knit community know just how to lift each other up. The lilting Spanish text echoes the lively scenes in Espinosa's effervescent, vintage-hued artwork, with lyrical repetition emphasizing the key sentiments of Woodson's verses. This warm and inviting picture book offers a heartening, nostalgic view of the strength of community and the bliss of play.
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Starred review from July 1, 2022
This lyrical paean to unstructured play does not wax nostalgic or hark back to a simpler time. Rather, Woodson sets out to capture (and brilliantly succeeds in it) a feeling and a moment. She starts off, "In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago," and tells readers that "the minute / school ended, us kids were as free as air. / Free as sun. Free as summer." While their grownups are busy inside the apartment buildings above, the neighborhood kids spend the long, hot days playing on the city streets. Open hydrants are converted into super squirters, games are invented and mastered, conflicts are collectively resolved, and scraped knees tended. It's a time of endless possibility. "Our block was the whole wide world / and the world belonged to us," at least until their mothers call them home for dinner. Espinosa's kinetic pen-and-ink and watercolor art captures a cadre of kids in perpetual motion -- biking, jumping rope, building forts, shooting bottle caps, playing stickball -- and conveys unbridled joy and mutual respect and admiration. This book reminds readers that the benefits of free play, independence, and being excited about what each day may hold can extend beyond a Brooklyn block one summer to a lifetime of creative possibility. Simultaneously published in Spanish as El mundo era nuestro, translated by Yanitzia Canetti. Luann Toth
(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)