BRICK BY BRICK

A young boy dreams of a para siempre—forever—house for his family.

Young Luis cherishes and admires his strong papi, who is a bricklayer. “He helps build the city, brick by brick.” While Luis is at school, Papi is at work, spreading mortar thick, tapping bricks in place, scraping drips, and repeating the process. Luis dreams of a house the Latinx family can call its own, with a garden for Mama and maybe a dog. At midday, Papi eats lunch on a bench while Luis eats in the school cafeteria. Mirrorlike images show both brown-skinned father and son with similar lunchboxes, both eating Mama’s special empanadas. One Saturday, Papi takes Luis for a surprise ride out of the city and into more rural terrain. There, Luis sees a new house made of Papi’s bricks, and Mama is moving their items in. This is illustrator Sheffield’s debut as a picture-book author. She excels with boisterously textured, mixed-media illustrations, many incorporating photographs, digital painting, and collage, capturing vibrant colors. Told in the first person, with minor Spanish interspersed (“horchata,” “una sorpresa,” “fuerte”) and occasional sound effects printed in all-caps (“SCRRRRAPES,” “KERCHUNKS,” “WHIRRRRRRR”), the written text will engage the youngest readers. Her command of pacing, however, is shaky; the sense of elapsed time is unclear, and the ending, though satisfying, is abrupt.

Lovely and heartfelt if a little off in the pacing.