Every Little Letter by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Joy Hwang Ruiz. Ages 4-8. Dial, 2020. 40 pages. Review copy provided by my local library.
Of course all my patrons want to check out this new picture book - look how adorable it looks! Kids will gravitate towards this one for the cute, colorful letters and the fun wordplay. Adults will want to share this one for the message of accepting others and celebrating our differences.
It starts with a town of H's. The H's all live in their little town, walled off from everyone else. They do fine and have pleasant but boring conversations (with only one letter, what do you expect?) until one day a little h spies a neighboring i through a hole in the wall. The little h and little i come together and make something surprising and delightful - "hi!" But the big H's see and promptly close up the gap in the wall. Luckily, the little h has an idea to send out a message and before long, little letters from all sorts of places are getting to know one another. And maybe, just maybe, they can convince the entire world to bring down their walls.
This would make a great classroom read aloud to introduce concepts of breaking down barriers, getting to know neighbors, and celebrating the unique differences that make our diverse world a fun place to live. As the letters start to come together, they form words and the wordplay is cute and fun throughout. Kids who are learning to read and starting to understand wordplay will enjoy this sweet story.