Author(s): Beatrice Alemagna

Picture | Sophisticated Picture | Diversity | Thinking & Feeling

From the bestselling author of A Lion in Paris comes this beautifully illustrated celebration of what makes each child unique. Through bold and sensitively observed portraits and a thought-provoking text, Beatrice Alemagna inspires children, and adults reading with them, to consider their own identity. Destined to become a classic, What Is a Child? is a must-have for every school, library, and bedside table.

Review: "A striking, illustrated musing on children and childhood. On verso, white pages background large-print sentences that contemplate the nature of children, while on recto, mixed-media portraits of racially diverse children complement the text. The thoughtful, sophisticated art sometimes has a grotesque edge, ruling out as its audience those children who are still in the developmental stage that conflates fantasy and reality. Likewise, the text--both philosophical and whimsical--seems geared to adults and precocious children, as its beauty lies in hearing and pondering words rather than in following a story with a plot...If this did not follow the familiar trajectory of a book read before bedtime, it would be tempting to pull it entirely out of the category of children's picture books."--Kirkus
"Nearly every sentence feels weighted with meaning, tacitly inviting young readers to consider the degree to which these ideas represent the childhoods they themselves are in the middle of living."--Publishers Weekly