When You Have to Wait
by Melanie Conklin; illus. by Leah Hong
Preschool    Roaring Brook    40 pp.
1/24    9781250816542    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781250365309    $11.99

The passage of time can seem painfully slow to young children who haven’t yet mastered how to measure hours, days, weeks, months, or years. This is especially true when a child is waiting for something to happen after a certain duration of time. In Conklin’s text, a little girl awaits her mother’s return from a weeklong business trip. Her father and baby sibling are home with her, and they cross off days on a calendar and fill their time with trips to the local pool and with window shopping in town. Throughout, Hong’s watercolors create a reassuring depiction of the child’s family and environment, with a calming, cool palette of mostly blue and green settings and soft, rounded forms. This comforting visual atmosphere is reassuring as the girl repeatedly appears dejected despite her father’s loving care. While anticipating her mom’s return is her main concern, other kinds of waiting underscore her longing. Standing in line at the pool or bemoaning how long it takes to get big enough to ride a two-wheeler, she often pulls on her father’s arm, as if willing him to change his pace would hurry time along. Small pleasures punctuate the waiting time, and the family’s joyful reunion provides a satisfying conclusion, augmented by a new bicycle as the cherry on top of this sweet story.

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.