When I Smile

October 1, 2023
Fans of the creators' In My Heart (2014) and its related titles will smile on reading this one. The ninth entry in the popular Growing Hearts series by this author/illustrator team is, unsurprisingly, another book about feelings, mostly positive ones. This book especially recalls My Little Gifts (2017): It presents a smile as a gift to oneself as well as to others. The narrator/main character (who appears to be well past the toddler stage) reflects on the many different types of smiles and their uses. A "breakfast smile" says good morning; a friend's smile initiates an exchange of wacky facial expressions; a shy or nervous smile can be partly hidden by one's hands; smiles can smooth social interactions and repair breaches between friends. En route to school, the protagonist is also the recipient of a smile from little sister Lili, and the narrator, who suffers from academic anxiety, needs that reassurance. Also, of course, a smile can express love. Smiling makes the narrator happy, and the last page asks an engaging question: "How do you feel when you smile?" Whimsical line drawings on a flat field are interspersed with saturated-color graphics; some drawings represent the siblings and their cat, while others are quite abstract. On every page, a big half-circle suggests a very generous grin. Such a warm message might turn some frowns upside down. (Picture book. 4-6)

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