BRODY KNOWS IT'S TIME

A young boy basks in the everyday joy of life on a cattle ranch in Gardella’s picture book.

“Brody knows it’s time when wildflowers begin / to fade and grass bakes golden in the sun” reads one of the author’s poetic turns of phrase describing her protagonist’s alacrity. Young Brody’s life on the family ranch includes playing with the dogs, packing shelves, watching the horses and cattle, and singing campfire songs with the cowboys. During all of these activities, Brody, who has fair skin and blond hair, knows “it’s almost time”—the repetition draws readers in with a sense of anticipation, wondering, “time for what?” The answer is something of an anticlimax: The story ends with a cattle muster, possibly Brody’s first (if not, it’s just another event adding to the sense of idyll and belonging). Mutton brings the ranch setting to life with digitally rendered illustrations that foreground the personalities of those involved—Brody, his parents and grandparents, and a host of big-eyed animals—while offering some exquisite flourishes (the abstract swirl of flowers on page three) and leaving sufficient blank space for the text to stand out. The font has a homemade, western slant to it, which adds visual vim but also might cause some readers to stumble. Notwithstanding such hiccups, young readers should approve.

A quietly content snapshot of a happy childhood.