Humble and Kind

January 15, 2021
The lyrics of the multiaward-winning country song become captions to describe acts and moments in the lives of a loving biracial family. Blackmore visually elaborates on cues and values in McKenna's unchanged verses to create a loosely connected storyline in which three biracial children, with their White mother and Black father, attend church (" 'cause your momma says to"), visit their grandpa (who is Black), share a root beer Popsicle, and wave American flags as a small-town parade goes by, among other activities. In line with the chorus--"Always stay humble and kind"--they treat their neighbors and particularly one another with (usually) unforced courtesy and respect. The line "Know the difference between sleepin' with someone, / and sleepin' with someone you love" is rendered innocuous with a picture of the parents snoozing in a hammock as their children hang out contentedly below. Some of the lyrics are likewise stretched, though to benign purpose, in the co-published (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay, written by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper, illustrated with stylized, geometric San Francisco scenes by Kaitlyn Shea O'Connor, and featuring here a solitary cat whose hunger and loneliness both end when a young Black child arrives with a fish and companionably stays to watch "the tide roll away, ooh yeah." Music is not supplied, but spoken or sung, the words in both outings make better fits with the pictures than in most pop-song crossovers. A harmonious outing. (Picture book. 6-9)

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May 1, 2021

PreS-K-Into the recent trend of picture books based on pop songs-from folklore to rock-comes this entry, with soft focus illustrations and charming scenes of a biracial family of five working around the home, gathering, shopping, building a treehouse, and more. The lyrics of McKenna's song-"You know there's a light that glows by the front door"-wrap and frame these scenes like photos from an album; the father has light brown skin, the mother tan, and their children share similar facial features and skin tones. But it's not their looks that make them a family; it's the casual way they are posed, with a baby up on the father's shoulder, the brother pushing a wagon, their postures leaning in to one another, and a spirit of love and cooperation in every scene. There isn't a narrative arc, in text or in pictures, but the atmosphere is snug, and for fans of the song, which reflects the tenets of many world religions and mentions a church is otherwise secular. VERDICT Children will feel reassured by the sentiments within this expressive extension of the music, and a sweet daydream of a picture book.-Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

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