A Face Is a Poem

June 10, 2024
In delicate digitally finished multimedia drawings, Morstad (A Rose, a Bridge, and a Wild Black Horse) meditates on faces—as seen in crowds, clouds, and elsewhere (“Even a potato/ has eyes!”). Each detail draws the viewer in: “The soft and smooth/ or crinkly skin,/ the just-so nose,// the delicate/ scratchy hairs/ and all those/ one-of-a-kind-marks.” Images blend the real and the dreamlike, sometimes in black-and-white, sometimes in gently tinted wash. On one page, a group of people examines a huge sculpture of a head; on another, a starry constellation makes up a visage (“A face is a poem/ with all the parts put together,/ adding up to someone/ you love”). A grid of thumbnail-like portraits depicts beings young and old from arrayed angles—gazing up two nostrils, looking closely at a pair of lips. Other pages imagine faces traded (“to see through someone else’s eyes”) and survey expressions and imaginative features. “A face is to love,” concludes this untethered session of wondering, a look at the way bodies and countenances can change and endure. Individuals are
portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 3–7.

July 15, 2024
An ode to the visage. "Have you ever stopped and looked, / really looked... / at a face?" This spacious text offers many opportunities. Various human and a few nonhuman faces with different skin tones, shapes, and features are splayed across the pages in black and white and in color. Some look out head-on; others are sideways or tilted back. The faces are portrayed in crowds and alone, talking and silent, boxed in and expansive, even scattered across the stars. Morstad's whimsical art evokes cubism and surrealism, while her spare narration poses questions and muses in aphorisms. "A face is a poem / with all the parts put together, / adding up to someone / you love." Each face presents a character, and Morstad has taken care to depict a diversity of ages and identities. This poetic exploration unfolds in a loving and inventive way, inviting thoughtful appreciation and conversation. Vibrant depictions of flowers and butterflies add elegant texture, underlining the idea that faces are part of a larger, wondrous world. A full-bleed spread showing dozens of kids with different expressions in auditorium-style seating feels particularly vivid. The final illustration, depicting adults kissing a baby, all with warm, richly rendered complexions, ends the journey of discovery on an intimate note. Certain to speak to young hearts and minds.(Picture book. 2-6)

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November 1, 2024

Gr 1-3-"Have you ever stopped and looked, / really looked.../ at a face?" Through vibrant multimedia illustrations, Morstad takes readers on a journey of faces, human and non-human. The human faces feature a diverse cast of many races, ages, and abilities. The non-human faces feature items that many people may miss, like the face of a potato or a flower. The words invite readers to see the similarities and differences and engage in provocative questions, such as "what if the parts of our faces were rearranged?/ would we still know each other?" At times, the concepts are a bit offbeat, which may be challenging for children without adult guidance, such as asking if eyelashes are really butterflylashes (the butterflies fly off of the eyes of the child pictured). Additionally, the book is tonally abrupt with the concept, with wording such as "sometimes I wish my face/ wouldn't show all my secrets" next to an image of a single tear falling after asking children a nonsense question about what color freckles they sprinkle on their faces. VERDICT A thought-provoking and beautiful discussion about what makes up a face, but an optional purchase for most libraries.-Katherine Kefi

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2024
"A face is a poem / with all the parts put together, / adding up to someone / you love." An observant, imaginative speaker offers musings about faces, from the concrete ("the delicate / scratchy hairs") to the hypothetical ("What if you could change faces every morning, / just to see through someone else's eyes?") to the silly ("Even a potato / has eyes!"). The whimsical text is elevated by its thoughtful placement on the page amid the varied, soft-hued mixed-media illustrations. Rows of human and animal eyes punctuate a list of real and imagined potential eye colors. Luminous eyes, and a nose and mouth made of stars take up a full spread, giving way to faces arranged in an inclusive patchwork and then to one bordered by Picasso-esque "rearranged" visages. In a few illustrations, lines of dialogue emanate from small faces or figures, but the emphasis is always on what's being observed about faces. Fans of Julie Fogliano (recently All the Beating Hearts, rev. 1/23) might especially enjoy this meditation on noticing what's in front of -- and, in this case, part of -- our faces. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
"A face is a poem / with all the parts put together, / adding up to someone / you love." An observant, imaginative speaker offers musings about faces, from the concrete ("the delicate / scratchy hairs") to the hypothetical ("What if you could change faces every morning, / just to see through someone else's eyes?") to the silly ("Even a potato / has eyes!"). The whimsical text is elevated by its thoughtful placement on the page amid the varied, soft-hued mixed-media illustrations. Rows of human and animal eyes punctuate a list of real and imagined potential eye colors. Luminous eyes, and a nose and mouth made of stars take up a full spread, giving way to faces arranged in an inclusive patchwork and then to one bordered by Picasso-esque "rearranged" visages. In a few illustrations, lines of dialogue emanate from small faces or figures, but the emphasis is always on what's being observed about faces. Fans of Julie Fogliano (recently All the Beating Hearts, rev. 1/23) might especially enjoy this meditation on noticing what's in front of -- and, in this case, part of -- our faces.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)