With Lots of Love
by Jenny Torres Sanchez; illus. by André Ceolin
Primary    Viking    32 pp.    g
2/22    978-0-593-20500-6    $17.99
Spanish ed.  978-0-593-20503-7    $17.99

After moving to a “new home” in the southeastern United States, Rocio finds herself missing her “other home” in Central America, where she’d lived with her grandmother, aunt, and cousins. She visits there in her imagination, recalling everything from the “smell of spicy peppers and burnt sugar” to the “soft rustling of piñatas that hung from the ceiling” of her abuela’s small grocery store. In her picture-book debut, Sanchez (We Are Not from Here, rev. 9/20) evokes, with rich sensory detail, Rocio’s memories of lovingly prepared food (Abuela’s warm tortillas smell “sweet and fresh, like the damp earth after a soft rain”), and Ceolin’s (Hanukkah Hamster, rev. 11/18) illustrations feature abundant star motifs and geometric patterns inspired by the traditional textiles Abuela wears. But it’s Abuela herself that Rocio misses most of all. Her longing for her beloved grandmother is palpable, as is her delight when a package, covered in stamps, arrives on the morning of her birthday. It’s not spoiling the surprise to say that it was sent by her abuela, “con mucho amor.” While the contents of the package are satisfying, Rocio’s emotional connection to Abuela—one that spans the star-­sprinkled sky—remains central to this story. Happily, Rocio finds a way to send lots of love back home to Abuela, too. Concurrently published in Spanish as Con mucho amor.

From the March/April 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.