Heartfelt

A girl sits in her room, her favorite place for cutting out heart shapes and decorating them with pencils. Her favorite hearts are the littlest ones, which fit easily into her pockets. Whether she's at home with her parents and younger sibling, at the park with a friend, or outside in her neighborhood, she's always looking for ways to help people or to let them know that she cares about them. And with each good deed, she hands the person one of her paper hearts. One by one, she gives the hearts away, and each kind deed makes her happier than she was before. Sometimes she wonders where the hearts have gone, sensing that perhaps they're still circulating through others' acts of kindness. As fresh as the story's central idea, the colorful, cut-paper collage art is described on the copyright page as photos of "hand-built, mixed-media, three-dimensional sets." The book uses a "five senses" framework to explore what love is, and concludes with the girl feeling that her whole world looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds like love.

A youngster spreads love throughout the community. The tan-skinned narrator makes tiny paper hearts. "The hearts don't say 'I love you,'" explains the protagonist, "but, kind of, they do--when you share them." The child gives the hearts to friends, family, and neighbors while finding other ways to show love: drawing a picture of a cat for a pal, delivering cookies to a neighbor, and reading a story to a younger sibling. With the paper hearts now all gone, the child comes to an important realization: "I find love everywhere, being shared in a hundred different ways from hearts of all shapes and sizes." Cotterill's illustrations--hand-built sets that were then photographed--bring the narrative to life, giving it a three-dimensional, textured feel. The child's handful of paper hearts pop off the page, while the bag of cookies looks real enough to hold. Movement and depth are so effectively conveyed that some images feel like video stills. This moving story will empower children to find ways to positively influence their own communities. The acts of service are practical and realistic, making this a perfect tale to share with preschoolers and early elementary school students. In her author's note, Vickers discusses how she drew inspiration from an activity she implemented years ago at children's classes at her church. People depicted vary in terms of skin tone and ability. A kid-friendly demonstration of how we can all make the world a more loving place.(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.