Emma Full of Wonders

January 22, 2024
Working in his signature boldly outlined figures and loose watercolor strokes, Caldecott Honoree Cooper introduces Emma, “a large dog with many small dreams.” She’s a thoughtful hound, and on the page around her, the smaller figures of similarly patterned dogs appear in a blue gray, doing the things Emma muses about: “singing, dancing, rolling in the grass, splashing in water, going for walks. One, two, three, four, five. Her favorite things.” Emma spends her days eating, napping, and enduring lonely moments. Soon, “there were times when her whole body felt strange.” And then “the day came,” the narrator announces: Emma is seen watching a puppy emerging from her body, licking off another newcomer, then nursing the whole litter: “And here they were! Just as she knew they would be.” The story’s reveal hinges on visual subtleties that may not add up for all readers, but the following spreads, featuring vignettes of the puppies “singing, dancing, rolling in the grass,” warmly invite a return to the story’s initial sequence. It’s a gradual look at how Emma’s dreams become reality and a contemplative story about the state of waiting—and being “full of wonders.” Ages 3–6.

February 15, 2024
A big, yellow hound dog has small, wonderful dreams. Emma's dreams are doggily simple. Rendered in gray, they manifest above her contentedly slumbering form: "singing, dancing, rolling in grass, splashing in water, going for walks," and eating. After she wakes and eats, she naps again, sprawled on her back, tummy distended, the very picture of canine bliss. Pages turn, with Cooper's lyrical text focusing on Emma and her sensations: "The days went on, shifting and taking shape, and now there were times when her whole body felt strange, but there was no stopping the days." A gently curving line of overlapping Emmas, rising, stretching, scratching, shifting, and resettling, underscores time's march. Adult readers may be anxious at this point, fearing Emma's impending death with the page turn--but no, it turns out Emma's been literally full of wonders, and she gazes mildly at a puppy emerging from her own body. Then there they are, seven little Emmas, and they now embody her dreams. Cooper's brushy, loose watercolors, outlined in swoops of ink, complement his Emma-focused text. She resides in a human home, but her owner appears only as tan-skinned hands extending from the margin to offer a bowl of food, caress her snout, or towel off a pup. In this way, Cooper invites readers into Emma's interiority, allowing them to sit quietly and wonder with her. A sweet and unexpected addition to the waiting-for-baby shelf. (Picture book. 4-6)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 From Sendak Fellow and Caldecott Honor illustrator Cooper comes a sweet and surprising picture book that will reward repeat readings. Emma is already a large dog, who grows larger each day. She has many small dreams, and her days are filled with doing her favorite things--singing, dancing, rolling in the grass, going for long walks, napping, and eating. Some days are quiet, when she has too little energy or is too worried to play and run; when her body feels strange, as it shifts and changes; when she sometimes feels alone. One day, however, her small dreams come true, when she gives birth to a litter of puppies, a moment depicted with frank realism. Looking back, Emma's favorite things take on different meanings once her little wonders--her puppies--are revealed. Cooper's naturalistic colors and ink-and-watercolor illustrations in simplified shapes, carry the gentle emotions of the story throughout. A beautiful celebration of motherhood, told in sparse text and with words filled with hope.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2024
"Emma was a large dog with many small dreams." She dreams about her favorite things, such as rolling in the grass and splashing in water. In Cooper's (most recently Yes & No, rev. 5/21) cheerful black-outlined watercolors, Emma's dreams are pictured as small bluish-gray dogs frolicking vision-like above her. When not dreaming, Emma sometimes worries or feels all alone, and sometimes "her whole body [feels] strange." Readers may wonder if our protagonist is sick or elderly, but -- surprise! -- one day, out from Emma's body emerges a tiny puppy, arriving headfirst into the world. Big Emma (literally "full of wonders") hasn't been thinking back to her frisky puppyhood, but rather ahead to her future, very-active puppies. Re-reading is a treat: audiences will now see that lumpy Emma is obviously pregnant, her "favorite things" are her soon-to-be-born pups, and her growing dreams are her seven growing babies. Once again, small dogs cavort around Emma, this time, brown-and-tan like mom and solid as can be. Cooper's small line drawings of a plump Emma adorn the book's opening endpapers while chubby puppies romp about on the closing ones. There's much to appreciate in this story about a gentle giant of a dog whose "dreams came true." Jennifer M. Brabander

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
"Emma was a large dog with many small dreams." She dreams about her favorite things, such as rolling in the grass and splashing in water. In Cooper's (most recently Yes & No, rev. 5/21) cheerful black-outlined watercolors, Emma's dreams are pictured as small bluish-gray dogs frolicking vision-like above her. When not dreaming, Emma sometimes worries or feels all alone, and sometimes "her whole body �feels] strange." Readers may wonder if our protagonist is sick or elderly, but -- surprise! -- one day, out from Emma's body emerges a tiny puppy, arriving headfirst into the world. Big Emma (literally "full of wonders") hasn't been thinking back to her frisky puppyhood, but rather ahead to her future, very-active puppies. Re-reading is a treat: audiences will now see that lumpy Emma is obviously pregnant, her "favorite things" are her soon-to-be-born pups, and her growing dreams are her seven growing babies. Once again, small dogs cavort around Emma, this time, brown-and-tan like mom and solid as can be. Cooper's small line drawings of a plump Emma adorn the book's opening endpapers while chubby puppies romp about on the closing ones. There's much to appreciate in this story about a gentle giant of a dog whose "dreams came true."

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)