Former Young People's Poet Laureate Margarita Engle (Your Heart, My Sky) masterfully blends inspiring symbolism with sobering reality in Light for All, a picture book that both celebrates and exposes the hardships of the immigrant experience. Pura Belpré Award-winning illustrator Raúl Colón (Imagine!) splendidly fills the pages with his signature colored-pencil art, inviting readers into landscapes and locations near and far.
"From land to land/ brave travelers arrive/ with hopes, dreams, skills/ and determination," Engle's text begins. Colón populates the opposite page with an international cast presented in sepia tones, with the funnels of a large ship in the background. Colón's point of view pulls outward with the page turn to show the ship heading into New York Harbor. U.S. shores enable "wondrous" reunions, but reminders of destruction and devastation loom. Engle projects "the promise of jobs" that beckon the next talented generations of "doctors, scientists,/ artists, singers, students, cooks,/ and farmers," but also realistically reveals "we have to struggle to be accepted,/ because some people don't understand/ the need/ for equality." She also acknowledges the "long, bitter story of the U.S., a history/ that began with cruel invasions,/ stealing from Native people,/ and bringing enslaved captives." And yet "gentler waves of arrival followed,/ with newcomers welcomed, so that now/ we're part of the Statue of Liberty's/ promise."
Although both were born in the U.S., Cuban Ukrainian Engle and Puerto Rican/U.S. Colón's prolific artistic outputs have repeatedly emphasized their Latinx backgrounds and experiences. That heartfelt empathy is clearly reflected here, in lingering words and vibrant art as they embody Liberty's light, "creating/ shared hope/ for all." --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon