WHAT I LIKE MOST

A small child describes “what I like most in the world”…that is, except for the other thing, and also the other thing, and so on.

A window to look out of, apricot jam, new shoes with blinking lights, the river….Author Murphy uses poetic language to highlight the important features of each object from a child’s point of view. Each item ends with the same line: “what I like most in the world.” This leads, after a page turn, to the next item, which begins: “Except for….” While the ideas and language remain simple and childlike, an additional pattern begins to emerge as this unnamed child with East Asian features details each item: Everything changes with time. From the view out the window to a colored pencil that grows shorter with use, a feeling of impermanence pervades the text. Even items that inherently don’t change, like a book or a teddy bear, become different because of the child’s relationship to them. However, the last item the child shares breaks the pattern, the thing that “I like the very, very most in the world,” and readers know that there is one important thing in this child’s life that will never change. Artist Zhu accompanies these odes to everyday life with watercolor and pencil, illustrating the text faithfully.

A simple yet sweet introduction to impermanence and change in all things…except one.