Review: Happy Valentine's Day!

It’s a day for kindness, friendship, and love.
Let’s celebrate by reading a book:
 
TITLE: THIS IS NOT A VALENTINE

AUTHOR: Carter Higgins

ILLUSTRATOR: Lucy Ruth Cummins

PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books/2017

​OPENING LINES: This is not a valentine, since those come with buckets of roses and bushels of tulips that smell like grannies fresh out of the garden. All I’ve got are these and I already blew the wishes off most of them, for a rocket ship or the last cinnamon bun or moon boots and a mega-blaster.

​The title tells you that it this not a valentine. But when you see the little boy give the little girl some wilting dandelions, a toy ring, a rock, a paper airplane – all things that show how much he knows and likes about the little girl – isn’t it? This sweet book shows the many ways you can express love, and not just on Valentine’s Day. After all, as the boy says, “I don’t only like you today. I like you tomorrow and next Tuesday and last week, too.”  Carter Higgins’ text conveys the boy’s (unbelievable) denial of his affection for his classmate, but Lucy Ruth Cummins’ art captures a friendship blooming between the two. This book is a gift in itself (and if you “unwrap” the jacket, you will find a surprise underneath!). I gave a copy to my valentine this year – not for Valentine’s Day, but for Christmas! So, perhaps it’s not a valentine after all.

​Read my review on Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.