UNSTOPPABLE ME

Readers follow a preschool-age child through the day, watching the child take on the world as “movement," ”heat,” and “powered by PLAY!”

The nameless child runs through the day with the kind of energy that only small children can really muster. This Everykid plays, loves, and laughs, affirming not just unstoppability, but an unapologetic love of self. The child and a diverse cast of friends “bounce,” “spin,” “tumble,” and “dig” themselves into oblivion and bedtime. Joyner’s vivid colors give the book and text a feeling of energy and highlight the diversity of the characters on the pages. The brown-skinned protagonist’s parents are an interracial couple, and the children at school display a wide variety of skin colors, hairstyles, and textures—some girls wear hijab—ensuring that many children will be able to see some of themselves in the story. The illustrations are appropriately filled with movement, and their busyness really captures what it is like to be a kid. Although the text is spare—more a sequence of phrases than complete sentences that connect to one another—its profusion of exclamation marks and subtle cadences make it a delightful read-aloud that kids will enjoy and parents will get a chuckle out of as they see themselves in the book as well (bleary-eyed morning phone check while kid bounds through the room, anyone?).

Bound to provoke many cries of “Again!” (Picture book. 3-6)