Ren’s Pencil

A special gift opens the door to new bonds in Lu’s uplifting tale about the reality-changing power of imagination. Young Ren loves stories, and every night she snuggles in with Popo to take in fanciful tales—“Stories from the East that Ren and Popo imagined themselves in.” After Ren’s parents tell her the family is moving “to the West,” a farewell sees Popo giving Ren a pencil and whispering, “You will make your own magic there, my dear.” But upon arrival, Ren, given a new name and a too-short haircut, can’t see herself in tales told in “upside-down letters.” When a yellow-orange cat like Popo’s runs by, the girl follows it through a doorway into a fantasy world where saving an imperiled princess offers a chance to make a new friend. Jewel-toned pencil, watercolor, and digital images pop from saturated indigo and forest-green backgrounds that brighten as the child finds her way in this reassuring story about drawing one’s own happy outcomes. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)