This Story is For You by Greg Pizzoli

Picture of Elisa Gall

Today's contributor is Elisa Gall, is a librarian and educator from the Chicagoland area. She serves as the Youth Collection Development Librarian at Deerfield (Illinois) Public Library, and she is on the blogging team at Reading While White (http://readingwhilewhite.blogspot.com). You can find her on Twitter at @gallbrary.

Image of book cover, all photos provided by Elisa Gall

 Greg Pizzoli is no stranger to the Geisel Award. He’s already been awarded one for The Watermelon Seed (2014) and an honor for Good Night Owl (2017). With the creation of additional popular and kid-friendly picture books including Templeton Gets His Wish and Number One Sam, it seems Pizzoli has mastered the art of picture books that also function as engaging and successful beginning readers. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that people will be excited to explore his new release, This Story Is For You, with an early reader lens.

Photo of lighthouse endpapers from
@kidlitbookbits

Right from the start, the cover image builds tension, with two children peeking towards each other as their bodies face apart, a message in a bottle between them. The intrigue continues in the front endpapers, where a burst of yellow light from a lighthouse crescendos through the night sky and across the spread, inviting readers to turn the page.

 

Image of ponytailed character
hopping off of a boat onto land

The text is a story-poem of affirmation and love from one friend to another, told in the first-person from the perspective of a White character wearing a baseball hat to a Black character with a ponytail. (Gender is not explicitly named in the story.) The children are shown drawing, exploring on stage (as if performing a play), and then in a full-on fantasy/metaphor inspired by their doodles, in which they are separated and later, through their connection and communication, brought back together. A friendly dog watches and participates on the side, adding another element of visual narrative.

Lettering (done by the author but resembling a classic computer typeface) is clean and crisp, with lots of open space around each word for eyes to rest. The sentences are short and rhythmic: “This story is for you. You and only you. You’re the only one in the world with your eyes...your nose, your fingers, and your smile.” Pizzoli employs repetition as well as words that are sure to be familiar to young readers (such as the parts of the body). The illustrations reflect the text, assisting readers with meaning-making while also adding touches of fun (as seen when the text “your fingers” is accompanied by an image of characters holding up their hands and the dog holding up its paws). Colors radiate off of each page, in hues that are bold, warm, and inviting. The cozy, tender tone is reminiscent of messages from the life and work of Fred Rogers, yet stemming from a central child character.

Image of characters holding up
their fingers and paws on stage

The levels of metaphor and fantasy found within the connected text and images will motivate many re-reads and conversations between readers. With a square-shaped trim size, the book rests size-wize in that space between a traditional picture book and an old-school early reader. That gives the physical book an extra level of grab-ability and interest.

Image of characters hugging

There are some contractions included in the text, including it’s, I’m, you’ll, and you’re, which might create challenges for some readers. The plot itself is a tad ambiguous, so there is potentially a question as to whether it has the same hook for kids as it does for grown-ups. For me, this just depends on the reader and the day, so it’s not a big concern, just something that might pop up in further deliberations regarding this book and the award criteria.  

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to share this one with young readers. Have you? I’d love to learn more about how they’ve reacted to this title in the comments.