HOME TO ME, HOME TO YOU

Ericsson crafts a tale addressing a common occurrence in contemporary family life: separation due to business travel. In her compassionate story, a mother and child reunite after the mother’s weeklong business trip. She slowly builds each character’s anticipation over the course of a day, moving the text smoothly back and forth from the mother’s perspective to her daughter’s as they describe their activities and emotional state throughout Mommy’s long journey and daughter’s long wait. Although it lacks any lyrical tone, the narrative offers a fictionalized yet truly life-like accounting of this scenario. Despite her style of factual reporting, she does convey how much the parent and child are on each other’s minds as they go through the day’s activities. Wolff’s colorful, full-bleed illustrations neatly contrast the homey, suburban environment of the child with the more urban scenes of a busy city and airport in the mother’s travel, helping young children visualize their parent’s work and travel environment. Young readers experiencing their first separation, as well as their more seasoned counterparts, will find equal comfort in this offering. (Picture book. 4-8)