I Wonder If I'm Growing
(Raffi Songs to Read)

Klassen's signature, indie style and Raffi's folk music are a perfect pairing in this work that will only gain more admiration as it ages.

A kid lit virtuoso gives a Raffi song the picture-book treatment. . . . Klassen's work features his customary chunky shapes and preferred earth tones. A reassuring tale for littles by an author-illustrator dream team.

In this smartly paced picture book, Caldecott Medalist Klassen gives visual form in his signature style to one of the most plaintive and triumphant songs in musician Raffi's catalog. "I wonder if I'm growing," sighs a pale-skinned child across spreads that reveal only the crown of their tousle-haired head and the top half of their eyes--even a nearby rubber ducky has a better view. As the pages turn, the child peers over a footboard, out a window, and into a bathroom mirror, while a shifting sun and moon, alongside the tune's lyrics, hint at the often-dragging speed of childhood change ("My mom says/ yes I'm growing/ but it's hard for me/ to see"). The refrain's second round sees a subtle typographical shift as the line, now broken in half, stacks vertically ("And I wonder/ if I'm growing"), and similarly rendered text elsewhere gives the appearance of straining upward. This patient build is what makes the payoff land: when the youth heads back into the bathroom to wash their hands, they find, "HEY!/ I can reach /the tap now/ for the very/ first time/ today." The attendant image reveals more of the child's face in the mirror, depicting most of a winning smile that radiates across the remaining pages. Anchored solidly in a child's experience, it's an earnest, pitch-perfect look at the time it can take to reach new developmental heights. Ages 3-7. (Oct.)