like so

How do you discover new picture books? I used to go into libraries and physical bookstores, but these days teaching takes up much more of my free time, and browsing in person feels increasingly indulgent and rare. School Library Journal’s free summertime digital event, Picture Book Palooza, has been a great resource for me these past few years – publishers highlight their latest releases all in one place, and I’m able to spend as much or as little time as I have on discovery. All of that to say, Picture Book Palooza introduced me to poet Ruth Forman and illustrator Raissa Figueroa's Like So, a beautiful picture book I am sure I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.

From bestselling author Ruth Forman and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree Raissa Figueroa comes a lyrical and vibrant picture book honoring the love and bond that exists between family and child even in complicated times.

Told from Nana’s point of view, this simple, affirming, and comforting read-aloud shows how every family’s love is natural and connected to the world around us. Just as the sun loves the day, the moon loves the waves, and the night sky loves the star glow…so is our love for each other: innate, wondrous, and infinite.

Ruth Forman’s narrative in Like So is about the love between a grandmother (or perhaps even a great-grandmother!) and granddaughter. That love spans time and place, and illustrates how love is felt in different contexts. Forman’s story begins with kisses and hugs exchanged in a domestic environment and then moves out into nature. Nature is used to compare how big their love is – with the titular repeated “like so.” Their love for each other is as big as butterflies on a sunny day, the moon and waves at night, days, trees, chickadees, and more. No matter where or when, the love between them is as big as the universe.

 

Neither grandmother nor grandchild are named or given those specific titles or relationship within the story, so it is possible that it could be about elders and children in general, or a great aunt and a great-niece, for instance. Through extended similes the text assures younger readers (or listeners!) that they are safe, loved, and secure. Overall, the word choices throughout are spare, simple, and poetic – with just a few words or a sentence at most on each page, and full phrases sometimes set over several page spreads, such as this excerpt:

 

“I got love like you

you got love like me

we got love

like so.”

 

Raissa Figueroa’s expressive and expansive art combines with the brief text for a picture book experience that seems at first almost entirely visual. The sky is a huge focus in the outdoor illustrations – appearing in ombre pinks, purples, and blues of daylight, sunset, and deep night, depending on the page. The paired figures of granddaughter and grandmother appear together both throughout the seasons and on every page until the last few, when they appear together only in the stars – indicating perhaps that the grandmother figure has passed away, but her love is still present. Little smears of white, which at first seems to be flour from working on a project together in the kitchen, and then maybe the glittering of butterfly wings, and then perhaps snow – connect each of the different scenes together, until it becomes the starlit love up in the sky.

 

In all, Like So is a beautiful marriage of both text and images that celebrates intergenerational relationships and love. It’s brief enough read to appeal to very young readers and their adults as well. There’s an excellent read aloud by the author available on YouTube, if you don’t have time to go out and get a copy right away!

 

Recommended for: read alouds for young ones ages two to five, and their adults, and anyone looking for stories that beautifully illustrate the relationships between elders and the very young.

 

Fine print: I received an advanced digital copy of the text from the publisher at Picture Book Palooza. I did not receive any compensation for this post.