Milo Imagines the World

This thought provoking picture book took a turn I was not expecting at all. If you have no exposure to it, the less said the better. Highly recommended, my own branch doesn't carry this but I'm hoping we can add a copy for our collection soon. Terrific illustrations by Christian Robinson.

Milo is on his way to visit his mom, he has a drawing pad and is drawing the people and letting his imagination and coloring skill draw pictures of what he imagines his life might be...only to realize he's judging books by their covers. Slowly learning people's lives are complex and perhaps assuming the best may be better. The message and the book's story goes hand and hand so seamlessly, I thought about this book for the rest of the day.

Milo, “excitement stacked on top of worry on top of confusion on top of love,” rides the subway with his sister, and, on the way, Milo draws his ideas of the stories he sees. It is only when he realizes that the story he has imagined about a neatly-dressed boy is wrong, that he and the boy are headed to the same place, that he chooses to reimagine the stories of all the people he has seen on his trip.

A poignant story that gently tugs at us to be careful about judging others, with all the expressive language we have come to expect from Matt de la Pena and the evocative pictures we love to see from Christian Robinson.

This picture book was excellent! It turned out to be a much deeper book than I had expected. It also has amazing illustrations courtesy of Christian Robinson (who illustrated another favorite picture book of mine, Carmela Full of Wishes). But this book's environment felt authentic and almost like you were with Milo and his big sister the entire time. It also had a thought-provoking ending (which can be a hit or miss with picture books meant for children) that left me thinking afterwards.

Already we have a picture book who is a contender to be my favorite picture book of 2021. Go read it!