JUST BECAUSE

A child sits under the covers in the dark, calling out questions to a patient and inventive parent.

“Why is the ocean blue?” “What is the rain?” “Why do the leaves change color?” Caregivers and children can both identify with this familiar evening exchange. Never resorting to the titular phrase, the dad in this impressive picture book supplies incredibly imaginative, improvisational answers. The ocean’s blue because at night, “the fish take out guitars…[and] sing sad songs and cry blue tears.” Rain is actually the “tears of flying fish.” Leaves change color because “in autumn, when the world gets colder, the trees keep warm by setting quiet little fires in their leaves. / By winter, their branches have all burned up.” The exacting, exquisite phrasing electrifies readers, and full-bleed illustrations pull them into an extraordinary alternate universe. The child’s big questions hover in enormous, colored bubbles atop a black background with the cozy bedtime scene. Answers appear on a double-page spread that follows, the father’s words floating inside smaller white bubbles set on the fantastical rendering. Matte paper, flat colors, conventional type, and a mid-20th-century look to the light-skinned people conjure a retro feel, allowing the unexpected, original answers to stand out even more.

Charming, playful, and extraordinary imaginings will galvanize young minds to find inspired answers to their own questions.