Before, Now

by Daniel Salmieri, Daniel Salmieri (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Full of visual details to discover in rereads, this multigenerational family story is poetic, eloquent and rich with educational opportunities.

Follow the story of a child from babyhood to parenthood in this moving book about family connections, time, and opposites—a lyrical classic in the making from the acclaimed illustrator of the #1 New York Times bestselling Dragons Love Tacos.

Ava’s world is full of opposites: colorful sneakers on a gray sidewalk, thick books made up of thin sheets of paper, and dreams of huge spaces in her small head. Together, these opposites depict a full and impactful life, as Ava moves from girl to student to scientist, from daughter to mother to grandmother. While years pass and some things change, there is even more that is constant in this visually rich, soothing portrait of family connection through the generations.

You'll want to cozy up and read this touching, beautiful book together with the children in your life. And as a celebration of personal and family milestones, it's a perfect gift for baby'showers and graduations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593461976
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/06/2023
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	145,280
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Daniel Salmieri is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of Dragons Love Tacos and numerous other picture books, and the author/illustrator of the critically acclaimed Bear and Wolf. His editorial illustrations can be seen in The New Yorker and The New York Times. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and young son.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/17/2023

Employing a quiet, unadorned narrative voice and softly burnished colored pencil illustrations, Salmieri (High Five) muses about how life is made up of paradoxes and opposites. “In a dark sky floats a blue planet,” the book begins, showing a swirling Earth against a starless expanse. Somewhere on that planet is a child: “a small person in a big chair” who eats “squishy oatmeal in a hard bowl.” Each page turn moves the maturing primary character, portrayed with black hair and tan skin, and always shown in a green shirt, further on in time. In closely observed, tableau-like spreads, the figure, whose “small head” has “vivid dreams of vast spaces,” becomes a school-age child, then a diligent college student and a scientist, then a doting parent (“squishy oatmeal in a hard bowl” appears for another child) and, eventually, a grandparent holding “an old photo in a new frame/... of a small person in a big chair.” This intergenerational portrait slowly suggests the way moments can provide anchors and recur—it’s a “whoa” kind of idea pitched at just the right level for the target audience. Illustrations portray people of varying skin tones within the family and across metropolitan scenes. Ages 4–7. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (June)

Publishers Weekly

★ "Employing a quiet, unadorned narrative voice and softly burnished colored pencil illustrations, Salmieri muses about how life is made up of paradoxes and opposites.  . . This intergenerational portrait slowly suggests the way moments can provide anchors and recur—it’s a 'whoa' kind of idea pitched at just the right level for the target audience." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Salmieri delivers a moving intergenerational story using opposites as its central conceit . . . [with] an immensely satisfying, full-circle conclusion." —Horn Book, starred review

"A series of moments, mundane and meaningful, capture the wonder of a life well lived . . . This play between text and illustration will engage young readers, while the journey through familiar beats of life is sure to tug at caretakers’ heartstrings . . . This meditation on the patterns of life shines with reminders of what we carry with us as we grow." —Kirkus

"The colored-pencil-on-paper artwork employs a full palette of mostly muted hues displayed on richly textured full-page spreads. A satisfying look at a life well lived." —Booklist

★ "The story is simple yet profound, connecting elements of nature, city life, park walks, and scenes where human empathy develops as we grow with the image of a dog hoping to be adopted. It is ideal for engaging with children for a sensory story time at the emotional and age-appropriate intellectual level. A biography-like picture book that invites children to feel, sense, and respond to textual clues." —School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 10/06/2023

K-Gr 2—Salmieri follows a woman's life, from her toddler years to her senior ones, as she holds her grandson on her knees, showing him a picture of her younger self about to eat oatmeal in a highchair. This ingeniously crafted story, told in the third person, begins with a striking black Earth's surface background, denoting celestial movement while highlighting this planet on the side. The story is simple yet profound, connecting elements of nature, city life, park walks, and scenes where human empathy develops as we grow with the image of a dog hoping to be adopted. The small font of the evocative narrative is filled with textual sensory meaning, with adjectives that invite preschoolers to feel in their imagination "wet waves," "rough sand," or a "prickly nest." The story, set in one or two lines of text, also plays with opposites ("small person in a big chair" and "bright lighting in a dark cloud"), conveying a playful mood. This book masterfully bonds the plot with expressive art, where each pictorial element complements the words and emotions drawn from the main character's life as a child, a teen, a professional, a mom, and a grandmother. It is ideal for engaging with children for a sensory story time at the emotional and age-appropriate intellectual level. The color pencil illustrations convey a sense of serenity, using symmetry and the color green as a thematic clothing unit to represent the main character as she grows older in this story. VERDICT A biography-like picture book that invites children to feel, sense, and respond to textual clues.—Kathia Ibacache

School Library Journal

2023-02-25
A series of moments, mundane and meaningful, capture the wonder of a life well lived.

Each spread in the book offers a set of opposites. A baby is “a small person in a big chair” awaiting “squishy oatmeal in a hard bowl.” Three pages later, that baby is a child who greets their returning parents, feeling “a cold jacket on a warm face.” Soon the little one becomes a student, a parent, and, finally, a grandparent. Salmieri’s colored-pencil drawings reveal the constants that follow the protagonist as they age; plants, bluebirds, and a black dog all reappear throughout. Deeper connections are implied, too. A microscope gifted in childhood foreshadows a career in science, and the protagonist’s future partner can be spotted in the background of the lab in which they work. This play between text and illustration will engage young readers, while the journey through familiar beats of life is sure to tug at caretakers’ heartstrings. The protagonist has the same black hair and tan skin as one of their parents; their other parent has brown hair and skin a shade lighter. The protagonist’s partner is lighter-skinned, and their grandchild is brown-skinned. Background characters are racially diverse but differ little in body type. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This meditation on the patterns of life shines with reminders of what we carry with us as we grow. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews