The Other Side of the Garden

Longing infuses the memories shared by Recio and Djome Lawrence’s maturing protagonist in this affecting long-timeline picture book about bereavement. Opening scenes center on a headstone near a fence, with a young subject’s innocent narration poignantly recounting joyful memories of the nearby garden at Abuela’s house: “From the time I was a tiny baby, I spent just about every day with her, always in her arms. Always in her garden.” Though the child yearns to cross the fence to greet her loved one, a realization dawns over time: “Eventually, I understand what I did not before. And sadness creeps in where the happiness should be.” McCarthy’s smudgy, color-saturated multimedia illustrations incorporate white charcoal that adds dashes of luminosity to page-filling multimedia scenes. After the grown protagonist releases the purple balloon that they carry as they grow, art meaningfully highlights the butterfly that lands upon their newly open fingers—an apt close for a book about letting go. Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)