REVIEW: IT’S WORLD KINDNESS WEEK!

I hope you practice kindness every week of the year. But in honor of this week's holiday, this is my picture book recommendation:

TITLE: HOPEFULLY THE SCARECROW
AUTHOR: Michelle Houts
ILLUSTRATOR: Sara Palacios
PUBLISHER: Flamingo Books/2023
OPENING LINES:
   A scarecrow stood in the garden. Tall, proud, smiling. Like most of us, he didn’t remember the very beginning of his days.
  He only knew he was created with loving hands. Carefully crafted. Wonderfully made.
   He did remember the first time she placed him on his perch. She set him up straight, stood back, and smiled.
   “Hopefully, the scarecrow will keep the birds away,” she’d said.
   He hadn’t known his name was Hopefully.
   But he liked it.

Young readers will love this friendship story between Hopefully, the scarecrow, and a girl who reads stories to him during the warmer months. They grow together over the years until one spring when she doesn’t arrive. Hopefully is lonely, but “hopefully” waits for her return. This book of friendship and hope is clever, sweet, and full lovely illustrations and oodles of heart. I am totally in love with Hopefully the Scarecrow!
 
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