ELBERT IN THE AIR

In this allegory celebrating individuality, Elbert finds true acceptance, aided by his loving mother.

After birth, Elbert begins to float, literally rising as he grows. His mother clambers ever higher to provide unconditional support: “If Elbert was born to float, I will let him.” Cavorting in the air, first among his toys and then above his yard, Elbert discovers despondency at 6: “Even on my birthday…no one else is up here.” At school, he deftly catches “the highest balls” and finds creative ways to play tag with his classmates at recess. Ma continues to reassure as Elbert’s increasing altitude literally puts classmates out of reach. “Just be yourself…and you’ll find friends.” She encourages him to make wishes—on birthday candles, on a shooting star—which symbolize the family’s commitment to Elbert’s existential quest. Wesolowska employs the Euro-folkloric motif of threes: At three stages in Elbert’s coming-of-age odyssey, a trio of naysayers offer feckless, often chilling advice designed to hobble him. But “Elbert was Elbert. No hook, no anchor, no law could bring him down!” Finally, Elbert finds “the world he’d always wished for!” Textured, gracefully composed digital art depicts Ma and Elbert enjoying a sky-high picnic among a group of the boy’s happily engaged peers; images that evoke Elbert’s toy blocks surround them. Both Elbert and his mother have brown skin and black textured hair, among diverse communities aloft and below. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A transcendent journey for families seeking affirming representations of those who march to their own beats.