I'll Walk with You

by Carol Lynn Pearson, Jane Sanders (Illustrator)

Overview

Help little ones learn to show love for the people around them, no matter how they look, sound, pray, love, or think.

Beloved author of The Lesson and Will You Still Be My Daughter? Carol Lynn Pearson is known for her heartfelt, sometimes tear-jerking poetry and stories. Her newest title will enchant children with a sweet, tender poem about loving and accepting others, no matter what they look like, where they come from, or what their age and abilities are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423653950
Publisher:	Smith, Gibbs Publisher
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	296,408
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD380L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Carol Lynn Pearson is the author of more than forty books and plays, including Goodbye, I Love You and Will You Still be My Daughter?. She has been a guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and "Good Morning, America," and was featured in People Magazine. She lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Editorial Reviews

School is near and already here for some, and I can’t think of a more important message to teach your little readers: Walk with those who are different no matter their outer appearance, where they come from or what their abilities are.

Meg Raby

I think this book is about kindness to strangers and to your family and to everyone who is different from you.

Age 6 Ava

I like how everyone is having fun. The sad people get happy because someone wants to play with them.

Age 5 Neve

If I could recommend only one picture book purchase on tolerance to add to every child’s home library, I’ll Walk With You by Carol Lynn Pearson would be it. The diverse and modern aesthetic of the illustrations and the poetic message that everyone deserves to be loved no matter what is beautifully depicted on each page. It effortlessly ties the essence of tolerance together and is a truly wonderful read.

PBS SoCal

Created first as a song, the book’s lyrical verses affirm the love and acceptance of people of all ages, races, religions, orientations, and social standings. At a glance, it seems as though the world is judging, but turn the page to find out how love is shown through simple acts of kindness. Multicolored figures and faces comprised of geometric shapes and bold colors convey the emotionally charged promise that you never have to be alone.

Pallas Gates McCorquodale

2020-01-21
Drawing on lyrics from her Mormon children’s hymn of the same title, Pearson explores diversity and acceptance in a more secular context.

Addressing people of varying ages, races, origins, and abilities in forced rhymes that omit the original version’s references to Jesus, various speakers describe how they—unlike “some people”—will “show [their] love for” their fellow humans. “If you don’t talk as most people do / some people talk and laugh at you,” a child tells a tongue-tied classmate. “But I won’t! / I won’t! / I’ll talk with you / and giggle too. / That’s how I’ll show my love for you.” Unfortunately, many speakers’ actions feel vague and rather patronizing even as they aim to include and reassure. “I know you bring such interesting things,” a wheelchair user says, welcoming a family “born far, far away” who arrives at the airport; the adults wear Islamic clothing. As pink- and brown-skinned worshipers join a solitary brown-skinned person who somehow “[doesn’t] pray as some people pray” on a church pew, a smiling, pink-skinned worshiper’s declaration that “we’re all, I see, one family” raises echoes of the problematic assertion, “I don’t see color.” The speakers’ exclamations of “But I won’t!” after noting others’ prejudiced behavior reads more as self-congratulation than promise of inclusion. Sanders’ geometric, doll-like human figures are cheery but stiff, and the text’s bold, uppercase typeface switches jarringly to cursive for the refrain, “That’s how I’ll show my love for you.” Characters’ complexions include paper-white, yellow, pink, and brown.

An unfortunately simplistic delivery of a well-intentioned message. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews