Review by Booklist Review
"Lowell General Store" reads the sign on a dilapidated little storefront building where a child lives with her grandparent, who runs the shop. A small "For Rent" sign in the window brings in a stream of people to view the apartment upstairs, but no one wants to take on the project of making it habitable. When a mixed-race couple expresses interest, the shopkeeper seems reluctant, but the girl intercedes, and the friendly young people move in. They work hard, transforming their apartment into a clean, airy space. Next, they renovate the storefront, befriend the next-door neighbor, and welcome the girl and her grandparent into their cheerful circle. In the end, the repainted sign says it all: "Lowell and Friends General Store." The art in this wordless picture book reveals its basic story quickly, but it rewards viewers who go back and spend more time with the detailed, evocative ink-and-watercolor illustrations, noticing new details and fitting them together to complete a more intricate narrative. A beautiful picture book in which a child reaches out and helps create her own supportive community.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A child helps create community in this wordless tale by Lawson (Over the Rooftops, Under the Moon). She lives with a grumpy, wild-haired grandparent, the proprietor of a run-down corner store with a dingy second-floor apartment that puts prospective renters off--ink and wash panels by Leng (When I Found Grandma) show grotty tiles, a cupboard door sitting askew, and a lone bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. After a string of rejections, an interracial couple appears (Pride flags, included throughout, cue them as queer, and the book's dedication suggests trans representation). The grandparent balks, but the child, drawn to the duo, persuades the grandparent to let them the flat. The couple moves in, cleans and paints, plants window boxes, and, with the girl as coconspirator, draws the grandparent, a neighbor, and even a local cat into their lives with generous hospitality. With a sure line and growing touches of color and adornment as the couple brightens their space, Leng captures the snowball effect of the girl's and the couple's efforts. It's a story about warmth, hospitality, and the way human beings can learn to change at any age. Though it's resolved with compassion, the grandparent's initial reluctance may call for some context setting. Ages 3--7. (Jan.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3--5--A dedication to trans activists and some characters who are nonbinary in dress and clothing make a simple message of love and acceptance resonate subtly. In this wordless book, there is comfort in familiarity, but sometimes a little change can shed new light on everything. A young girl and her grandparent live behind the family general store, where she helps the elder person with daily activities. Their contradictory personalities are depicted from the beginning; the grandparent turns away a hungry cat while, moments later, the girl brings it some food. A third of the way into the book, the grandparent puts an "apartment for rent" sign in the window. Prospective tenants tour the ramshackle apartment and are repelled by its state of disrepair. However, one special couple are willing to give the apartment--and the recalcitrant grandparent--a chance, improving more than the walls and pipes in the process. This wordless story manages to speak volumes. Detailed images fill each page, requiring careful study and observation to understand the entire story. Multiple frames appear on each page, creating a more robust narrative than is often found in picture books. The girl and her caretaker are light-skinned; the new renters are a Black person with flowing hair who wears skirts, and a lean, light-skinned person with black straight hair and wearing slacks. Readers quickly accept that they don't really know everyone's genders and that the story deliberately transcends such labels. Muted watercolor illustrations give way to more vibrant hues as the grandparent gets comfortable with the new residents. VERDICT This meticulously detailed tale spreads a heartwarming message of renewal, hope, friendship, and compassion.--Mary Lanni, formerly at Denver P.L.
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Review by Horn Book Review
As in Sidewalk Flowers (rev. 5/15), author Lawson conceptualized the story for this wordless picture book. Here, words appear only as text within the illustrations (a sign displays the name of the titular shop as Lowell's General Store; a card in the shop window reads "Apartment for Rent"). Leng's watercolor and ink illustrations channel Quentin Blake and David Small in their loose lines and expressive characterization. A gruff shopkeeper lives behind the shop, in a neglected, rundown building, with a child. The overall atmosphere is one of gloom and disconnection: a next-door neighbor often sits on a stoop reading, but everyone keeps to themselves; a stray cat comes begging, only to be shooed away by the shopkeeper. Deft use of panels helps establish the sequence of events as the child offers the cat food and later encourages the shopkeeper to rent the apartment to a young couple (one of whom can be read as nonbinary, as can several other characters in the book). Once they move in, everything begins to brighten and change for the better: the couple spruces up the place and begins helping out in the shop, which visibly softens the shopkeeper's disposition. Even the cat leaves the alley to join the household. A finishing touch is a rainbow flag hung outside the front window, near the shop's sign, which now reads Lowell Friends General Store, marking it as a space of warmth, community, and yes, pride. Megan Dowd Lambert March/April 2021 p.63(c) Copyright 2021. 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
In this wordless tale, a chosen family forms. As a child washes breakfast dishes, their harried grandparent exits the kitchen directly into a general store, revealing that they live in rooms behind their shop. Upstairs, a rental apartment sits empty, rejected by prospective tenants, until a new couple looks past its grubby, run-down state. With elbow grease and enthusiasm, they fix peeling wallpaper, cracking plaster, and cabinets hanging off hinges. They also give the shop's exterior a new coat of paint and share in running it, easing the grandparent's workload and spirits. A new family of four is born. Leng uses unbordered panels, sometimes full-page, sometimes small and square, sometimes horizontal. Her ink-and-watercolor paintings are gentle and dreamy, with a real beating heart. Child and grandparent are White; the new family members are an interracial couple, one brown-skinned (long hair, billowy skirt), one Asian-presenting (short hair, jeans). A few carefully placed pride rainbows make queerness explicit: a barely noticeable rainbow belt; a rainbow hat, tiny in a distance shot; and, finally, an unmistakable (and unprecedented for this shop) rainbow flag hanging outside the business at the very end. Careful readers may deduce that the Asian tenant is a transgender man, signaled through an extremely subtle plot point. Poverty and the child's early loneliness are subtle too, but warmth never is. A wordless, singing infusion of love and energy into a home. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
