Mia’s Thumb

Mia’s thumb is a continuous presence in her mouth, her fist obscuring almost her entire face except her eyes and giving her a Sphinxlike level of enigmatic self-possession. Readers, however, can see that Mia is actually not so inscrutable: she loves her thumb for its amazing emotional utility, how it offers comfort, courage, and calm (“Mia needed her thumb when a movie was too exciting... or too boring”). When it’s clear that no clever or blunt tactic can dissuade Mia from sucking her thumb, Grandma figures her granddaughter is on to something and starts sucking her thumb as well, throwing the entire family dynamic out of whack. Stille doesn’t make the smoothest of landings (some readers may even think a page or two are actually missing from the end of the story), but this is an otherwise strong debut effort. Working in cut-paper collage in neutral tones, Stille gets substantial emotional and comedic range out of her medium, and one image is particularly memorable: Mia jumping off a high dive, hair flying, legs akimbo, and thumb planted firmly in her mouth. Ages 2–5. (Sept.)