Heart String

by Brooke Boynton-Hughes

Overview

There's an invisible string binding us all together! Beautifully illustrated, this heartwarming picture book reminds readers that we're all connected.
 
Through backyards and neighborhoods, over mountains, and across oceans, this colorful heart string ties us all together. Invisible yet undeniable, it joins our hearts so that we are never truly alone.

Follow the thread of this reassuring story to see how, even in a world as vast as ours, there is always a bond that connects us to the ones we love—and to the world we share.

WE ARE CONNECTED: Whether we're loved ones or strangers, this book is a poignant reminder that one person's joys and sorrows impact us all.

REASSURING MESSAGE: Nervousness or anxiety about distance or separation are universal feelings! From attending the first day of school to a traveling parent or distant grandparent, any kid will find comfort in this book.

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: These colorful heart strings weave through streets, neighborhoods, mountains, and oceans—across the globe—showing us that love can overcome both distance and hardship, and ultimately revealing the threads that bind us together as one global community.

Perfect for:

Parents and grandparents
Teachers and librarians
Gift-givers

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797200996
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	12/20/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	901,630
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Brooke Boynton-Hughes is an introvert who often finds going out into the world and meeting new people anxiety-inducing. But she does it anyway because the world is full of beautiful and interesting people worthy of connection. She writes and illustrates children's books in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she lives with her husband and children. To see more of her work please visit www.BrookeBoyntonHughes.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/24/2022

With light verse, whispery artwork, and a single, rainbow-hued line that loops and soars through the pages, Boynton-Hughes (Brave Molly) introduces the idea that all human beings are linked. “There is a string,” the narrator starts, addressing the reader directly, “an invisible string,/ that ties my heart/ to yours.” A child and adult, portrayed with brown skin, hug before the child sets off for a nearby community garden, wagon in tow. The titular string—which reads clearly as a conceptual element rather than a literal one—starts at the child’s hoodie and leaps off the edge of the page, connecting the youth to an elderly, white-presenting neighbor. Soon, the child is seen working in the garden within a bustling neighborhood, the cord glowing gold as it passes through individuals and groups portrayed with varying abilities and skin tones. Pulling farther out, Boyton-Hughes draws the line swirling across an ocean and desert, around the earth, and back at last to the neighborhood, where the hoodie-clad child offers the neighbor garden vegetables, acknowledging their connection: “My heart to yours,/ and yours to mine.” An upbeat variation on Karst and Lew-Vriethoff’s The Invisible String, Boynton-Hughes’s work offers a glad vision of a world connected. Ages 3–5. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt & Zacker Literary. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

...delivers a positive and unified vision of the world to which readers may aspire….This heartwarming narration will provide readers with reassurance as well as opportunities to explore ­social-emotional health and global ­citizenship.” — School Library Journal 

“The notion that our humanity connects us is a worthy message, as is the idea that even when separated from loved ones, something binds us.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Boynton-Hughes’s work offers a glad vision of a world connected.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

09/01/2022

K-Gr 2—In this gentle story of connection and community, Boynton-Hughes depicts the entire world sharing an unbreakable bond, portrayed as colorful strings linking every person together. Featuring the repeated phrase, "My heart is tied to yours," soft, rhyming text directly addresses readers as "you" and explains that while "we" have not yet met, or may live incredibly far apart, hearts are joined, and emotions are shared. Serene illustrations portray neighbors meeting for the first time, a classroom filled with laughter, a friend comforting another in grief, scenes that take place across oceans, cities, mountains, and gardens. All the while, everyone's hearts remain connected by the colorful strings. While this book does not delve into the conflicts and differences felt by many, its focus on unity and relationships delivers a positive and unified vision of the world to which readers may aspire. Pair with Stacy McAnulty's A Small Kindness, or perhaps Corrinne Averiss's Love for similar themes. VERDICT This heartwarming narration will provide readers with reassurance as well as opportunities to explore social-emotional health and global citizenship.—Olivia Gorecke

School Library Journal

2022-09-14
A rainbow-hued string swirls from one character to the next, creating a glow of kinship wherever it lands.

An adult with brown skin and cornrows hugs a lighter-skinned child with short, black hair. The youngster pulls a wagon containing a plant and watering can down the street; the child’s string enters a window and goes into a light-skinned, elderly person. The simple, repetitive text, which initially seemed to be directed to the child, takes on a more universal feeling—wisdom imparted from reader to listener: “There is a string, / an invisible string, / that ties my heart / to yours. // Even if we have not met yet, / my heart is tied to yours.” The cord enters a variety of diverse people and visits a birthday party, a pet burial, and a community garden and crosses mountains, deserts, and oceans. Ultimately, the child from the first spread offers garden produce to the elderly neighbor. The notion that our humanity connects us is a worthy message, as is the idea that even when separated from loved ones, something binds us. However, these concepts have been addressed more successfully, with a stronger framing story, as in Patrice Karst’s popular The Invisible String (2018), illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. Boynton-Hughes offers a catalog of situations rather than a fully developed protagonist; the charming visuals don’t completely compensate for the resulting lack of emotional investment. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

For adults wanting to teach world harmony, though it likely won’t resonate with kids. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews