This magnificent new title from Icinori starts as a word book of things to be thankful for and turns into a thrilling adventure story along the way
A BookPage Best Picture Book of 2024!
What starts as a series of “thank yous” addressed to common objects that inhabit our daily lives gradually builds into a fantastic journey across landscapes, seasons, and inner discoveries. Deceptively simple, each page acknowledges the contributions of a different object (spoon, rock, beasts) or concept (summer, slumber, surprise), with each image building on the next to create a dazzling narrative that invites readers to puzzle and play, explore and discover, appreciate and marvel. Aaron Becker’s Journey meets Carter Higgins’s Circle Under Berry in this visual tour de force and invitation to look at the world with new eyes.
Praise
A BookPage Best Picture Book of 2024!
One of 100 Scope Notes’s Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books of 2024!“The text begins with simple thank you statements, but it soon becomes apparent that these images are building on each other and an adventure is taking shape. Visually stunning and open to interpretation, as a good unconventional book should be.”
—100 Scope Notes (A School Library Journal blog), Travis Jonker
STARRED REVIEW! ? "Paired with simple text made up of brief 'thank you' sentences, the story unfolds through the elegant, textured images... This is a tale that begs readers to linger and wonder about what it means to be grateful... A limited but vivid palette of primary colors simultaneously soothes with its blues and energizes with its red and yellows, creating an aesthetically pleasing, thought-provoking, and engaging experience. A whimsical, enriching, and deeply rewarding adventure in gratitude."
—Kirkus Reviews
STARRED REVIEW! ? "Striking, stylish illustrations distinguish an epic read from creative team Icinori. Crisp-edged, silkscreen-like images in a palette of muted red, faded gold, and deep turquoise give the pages the look of vintage advertisements… The ambitious, world-girdling expedition… recasts exploration in an unexpected language."
—Publishers Weekly
STARRED REVIEW! ? "Told with minimal prose, Thank You, Everything opens up the world to readers in a multitude of fascinating ways, leading them on a grand adventure. Icinori use a bold yet limited color palette to create wildly stylized, dynamic illustrations. The pacing is perfect, prompting readers to appreciate small details (a bath towel, a caterpillar) while also admiring big, beautiful landscapes (a bustling city, a dark forest lit by a full moon). The narrative, translated from French by Emilie Robert Wong, is equally distinctive… This soothing yet exciting blend of art and prose will encourage young imaginations to soar. A delightful book filled with wonder and gratitude, feelings that will linger with readers."
—BookPage
“A child sets out on a fantastical journey of gratitude in this engrossing picture book. The illustrations defy characterization, with elements of geometric abstraction, neo-Impressionism, and linocut techniques all layered together in a limited palette of blue, red, and yellow… Invites children to explore the world around them with new appreciation for the extraordinary and the everyday.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Primary colors are layered in a retro silk-screen look to capture the adventure... Scenes in the jungle have nocturnal animals in orange and yellow glowing against the shadowy blue trees and the black sky. Fine lines capture ripples in the ocean, mist in the shower, and the texture of walls and floors. Despite the simple and repetitive sentence structure, rich vocabulary is woven into the text. Words like tempest, cacophony, horizon, and cavern offer chances for discussion. So too, does the story itself. Is this a real journey using airplanes and buses, or an imaginary trip inspired by the map in the surprise package? VERDICT: This journey away from home and back again will captivate readers with the imaginative and detailed illustrations. Expect noise story hours, then transition to quiet words of appreciation.”
—School Library Journal
"I’m awed by books that tell powerful stories with very limited text. Thank You, Everything is a nearly wordless picture book that begins like a list of simple gratitudes, but readers will soon realize that the illustrations are telling a bigger story—an adventure story, even, about a trek out of the house (‘Thank you, door’), through a jungle full of creatures (‘Thank you, caution’) and up into the sky (‘Thank you, hot-air balloon’). Kids and adults will love searching through the eye-catching artwork to catch new story details with every reading."
—LitHub, Caroline Carlson
“What does it mean to be grateful, and which objects deserve our appreciation? In this deceptively simple tale, a child give thanks to the everyday things we take for granted. Amid these straightforward utterances, a soft, clever narrative emerges.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books
