My Quiet Ship

PreS-Gr 1-Children use the power of their imaginations to create fabulous worlds, but Quinn uses his to escape whenever his parents yell. This young boy gathers his spaceflight supplies and crew, which consists of stuffed animals, pillows and things to draw with, and buries himself in a cardboard box for blast off whenever his parents argue. The rumbling of his spaceship drowns out the yelling as he sees the universe and explores other planets. However, one night, the yelling is so loud that it breaks his Quiet Ship. Sánchez (Here I Am) uses a combination of traditional and digital brushes to evoke fear and the idea of safety. On one spread, Quinn attempts "to draw happy pictures to forget about the sounds" that make him sick. Jagged lines reach across an enveloping blackness toward the warm glow of his flashlight inside his Quiet Ship, mimicking his parents' argument and his small attempts to escape. Adelman fills an important need, and her prose, paired with Sánchez's revealing art, showcase Quinn's very real fear. Quinn eventually gets mad at the yelling and enters the room where his parents are. They stop, in silence, as he finally tells them to stop yelling. Later, his parents enter his room and kindly, quietly talk with him about his fears. There is certainly a great demand for picture books about emotional awareness and trauma, and this idealistic depiction will fill that demand. This is still, however, an important and necessary story when it comes to helping children find their voices. VERDICT An excellent purchase for any public library and a first purchase for those who work one-on-one with children in traumatic situations.-Rachel Zuffa, Case High School, Racine, WI © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A child uses fantasy to cope with the angry shouting coming from adults in the home.Quinn feels sick, achy, and scared when the yelling starts. In response, Quinn pretends to blast off into outer space as the commander of the Quiet Ship. There, the rumbling of the engines is so loud that nothing else can be heard. Quinn explores and sometimes even meets other creatures who "hug us and speak in nice voices" while managing the overwhelming feelings through dissociation. Jagged lines and dark colors show the intensity of the conflict and the discomfort it provokes in Quinn. Eventually, a night comes when the arguing is so loud that the child is unable to access the Quiet Ship. Instead, Quinn makes the decision to confront the adults, yelling at them to stop. The adults appear shocked when they are confronted and respond gently. In Quinn's context, speaking up in this way is an empowering choice. However, for many children, this would not be the case, and such an action may not even be safe. While well-intentioned, this lack of context around issues such as domestic violence limits the title's overall utility. Quinn and their caregivers all have light skin and straight, black hair.This depiction of role reversal regarding who holds responsibility for keeping the home calm and safe unfortunately offers more confusion than comfort. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.