cover image Willow’s Whispers

Willow’s Whispers

Lana Button, , illus. by Tania Howells . Kids Can, $16.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-55453-280-3

Willow speaks so softly that everyone either ignores her (the class mean girl), patronizes her (her teacher), or thinks she’s aloof (“She must like sitting alone,” says a schoolmate who can’t hear Willow accept his invitation to join him at the lunch table). But with a nudge from an understanding father (“Your big, strong voice got stuck way inside you.... But one day your voice will wiggle its way out”), Willow creates a “magic microphone” from a cardboard tube and gains the confidence to speak up. Seinfeld got a lot of memorable narrative mileage out of a character who was a “soft talker,” but such is not the case with this story from debuting author Button and Howells (Berkeley’s Barn Owl Dance ). In their diligence to make sure every spread stays on message, the team lets the story sag into didacticism. Howells’s digital, minimalist line drawings feel more instructional than emotional, and the book comes off feeling like a pamphlet proffered by a well-meaning adult. Ages 3–7. (Feb.)