Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It's another grouchy, cranky day in the city ("Everyone just shush!" says one of many complaining voices filling the air), until young Olive discovers a huge lost-and-found under the street. This is no ordinary repository: among the expected stuff (scissors, hair clips, homework, phones) are boxes of abilities, characteristics, and qualities of mind, like willpower, youth, courage, and faith. "Since no one has come looking for them in so long," the grandmotherly "little old lady" in charge tells Olive, "Feel free to take whatever you like!" Grabbing a few things for her immediate family (a sense of humor for a teenage sister "who didn't know she'd lost it"), Olive also takes a jar filled with hope to spread around. Sure enough, the once grey mean streets turn bright, colorful, and downright polite ("Hello, neighbor!"). There's no missing the Big Message debut author-artist Canby is determined to deliver, but while the writing is unsubtle, her freewheeling pictures, which combine cartooning with collage, are confident, fresh and chummy. Ages 4-8. Agent: James Burns, Bright Group International. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-After discovering a mysterious old woman in a manhole and her boxes of precious lost items, young Olive carefully selects something for each member of her family: a sense of humor for her teenage sister, a memory for her grandfather, and eyesight for her own aging father. To fill her last jar, Olive selects hope, which she then disperses all over her city from atop the highest hill so that "anyone who may have lost it...might find it once again." In the end, the once-bleak and dreary city becomes bright and beautiful and full of hope and positivity. This author's debut picture book may be a little heavy on the message and even hard to follow in the beginning, but the illustrations help to carry the plot and make the book a pleasurable experience. Canby starts with a bright and colorful Olive amid the dark, black-and-white city and ends her story with cheerful colors everywhere. VERDICT Though not a first purchase, this book could add depth to a collection for readers looking to share positive messages.-Betsy Davison, Cortland Free Library, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This feel-good, if sentimental, fantasy follows Olive down a manhole to a trove of "lost things"--from marbles and homework to "youth" and "a sense of humor." She takes some for her family as well as an "enormous scoop of hope" to share with the city. The brief text explores family relationships, emotions, and goodwill. Hand-scrawled font and graffiti-like collage illustrations are softened by watercolors. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When Olive discovers "all the lost things" in a mysterious place beneath the city, she decides to bring back hope, memory, and humor for those above. Alone for a walk in a busy city, young Olive hears a "peculiar sound" emanating from an open manhole. Curious, Olive climbs down to discover a little old lady who organizes "all the lost things from all over the city." Boxes and boxes and boxes are stacked up, labeled with the expected (pencils, phones) and the unexpected (will power, appetite). Debut author/illustrator Canby's handwritten text and playfully childlike illustrations blend together nicely. Children will enjoy the way Olive takes matters into her own hands, scooping up a jarful of memory to help her grandfather; however, young readers may have trouble understanding the intangible things that people have lost: nerve, energy, temper. When Olive brings back a jar bursting with hope, the resulting goodwill is reflected only in happy colors and speech bubbles; newly hopeful humans are nowhere to be seena missed opportunity to include a diverse range of characters in this otherwise all-white book. Moreover, the book doesn't leave the realm of metaphor. Spreading hope is important, but readers are not given a sense of how they might do this themselves. While full of warmth, this picture book unfortunately loses sight of its young audience. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
