My Abuelita by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16, 9780152163303/0152163301, September 2009)
With this life-affirming picture book, Johnston and Morales create a loving tribute to the special bond between grandparent and grandchild and to storytellers everywhere. "I live with my grandma. And she lives with me," says the young nameless narrator (who could be a boy or girl). "I call her Abuelita." Morales sets the opening scene for this tightly knit family with three-dimensional dolls dressed in glorious handsewn outfits and bedclothes in fiesta-bright stripes and polka dots. Pictures on the wall honor the absent parents, and a portrait of Frida Kahlo on Abuelita's ruffled pillow offers the inspiration for the name of their tiger-striped pet cat. (The feline Frida even sports a bright red flower on her furry head, just like her namesake.) Johnston sets up a poetic symmetry in the text ("She is my abuelita. I love her. And she loves me") as she takes readers through the trio's daily routine. Even the most habitual activities take on a grandiose quality. A description of exercise, for instance ("She does knee bends and breathes deep, oh, deep. Like a big salty whale out at sea. I do the same"), inspires a gorgeous spread of the 3-D characters starring in a sequence in which they limber up while a whale leaps from a backdrop painted to resemble the ripples of the sea. To Morales' credit, the illustration comes across as a unified whole. The two human protagonists then wash up and yodel while Abuelita cooks. (She "yodels about bedroom slippers '¡Pantuflas--pantuflas--pantuflas!' "). The author peppers the narrative with Spanish words, much as Abuelita seasons the huevos estrellados ("starry eggs") and queso (cheese) she makes for breakfast. Each step of their routine prepares Abuelita for her work, which is only revealed at the very end (though the narrator offers plenty of good clues). Tim O'Meara's photographs of these idyllic scenes capture all the warmth and vitality of the lead characters. Both text and illustrations nicely toggle between the larger-than-life aspects of their days together and the authentic real-world love of grandparent and child as well as the stories they make together.--Jennifer M. Brown
