The Spark in You

Pippins’s enthusiastic book takes inspiration from Brazilian Carnival as it celebrates individuals’ internal spark. Snappy prose suggests that an inner light is present, and that “whenever you have an idea,” it “dances in your smile,/ through your hands, and in your feet.” Bold digital art, meanwhile, tells a parallel story of a brown-skinned child creating a costume and attending Carnival. Clad in a homemade mask and wings, the child revels in the festival, accepting a flower from a figure on stilts, donning a beaded necklace, and grooving to a band. In a foldout, individuals of varied abilities, body types, and skin tones joyously parade through the streets, while text speaks of the spark as “magical, moving, flowing, and carefree.” Even when the “busy and LOUD” crowd temporarily overwhelms, the spark “is there, glowing as quiet comfort in your heart.” DIY mask instructions conclude. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)