A young child named Milo and his older sister are taking a long subway ride. To pass the time, and distract himself from “the excitement stacked on top of worry on top of confusion on top of love,” Milo takes out his sketchpad and draws the people he sees on the subway, imagining what their lives are like. A boy wearing a suit and bright white Nikes enters their subway. Milo draws a picture of him as a prince in a castle with service staff and a petit crown on his head. Milo tries to think of what people might imagine about his own life and draws that too. Above ground, the sibling pair head into a brick building with metal detectors. To Milo’s surprise, he sees the boys with the white Nikes. They are going to the same place, to visit their mothers in prison. Milo learns you can’t know everything about someone just by looking at them, but it is fun to imagine.
This book’s descriptive text and narrative illustrations compliment each other perfectly. Diversity in race, family structure, and socioeconomic representation. Another home-run for this author and illustrator team and a must have for 2021.
Ellen at the Library 