The Tiny Portrait

In a small-format book featuring sepia photographs, siblings Tess and Toby discover an enigmatic portrait of a woman holding a small dog—it’s labeled “Lottie and Pearl, 1890”—in their mother’s box of family mementos. The next morning, they see apparitions of the woman and dog in their garden (Lottie appears in a dreamlike, soft-focus photo). When Lottie vanishes, in her place is a piece of paper with a poem: “Adventure beckons beyond the tree,/ Now that Pearl and I are free.” In search of the phantoms, Tess and Toby go to the library, where they learn about family trees, and an antique store. While subtly encouraging readers to explore their own genealogical roots, Carla allows the gentle magic of the siblings’ quest to drive the story. Tess and Toby are saddened to see Lottie and Pearl board a train leaving town, but Tess realizes that learning about Lottie’s adventurous life from her mother means “she didn’t lose her great grandaunt, she only just discovered her!” Cinquanta’s ghostly photographs, which use techniques including photomontage and hand-coloring, infuse the narrative with mystery and nostalgia. Ages 4–8. (BookLife)