May's Book of the Month--Everyone Starts Small

With its lyrical text and vibrant, colorful art, EVERYONE STARTS SMALL, written by Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Dominique Ramsey, offers an inspiring ode to our living planet that ends with some gentle encouragement to help Earth “recover, regenerate, and look after itself.”

“Everyone starts small,/in seed or sky or rocky bed.” The story begins with Sun’s beams, Grass’s blades, and Cloud’s exuberance, but soon “everyone sprouts and bursts/and hatches and spreads.” Tree “reaches and widens,” Water “tumble[s] end over end,” Grass, Sun, Bug, and Berry, “rise and ripen.” But then comes Wind, and Sun grows too hot. And so does Fire. Then Rain, who is wet, calms everyone down. And they’re all tired, but “Soil holds on,” and slowly “threads of life” again burst forth.

The language is so smooth and wonderful to say, I couldn’t help reading it aloud and over-quoting it to describe the story. Liz Garton Scanlon is a master, but the illustrations completely hold their own, with bright colors and swirling, organic shapes adding to the sense that Earth is always in motion, always growing and dying back and growing again. It’s a delightful read.

--Lynn