You Are a Gift to the World

February 21, 2011
One question, two answers, and another Duksta "flip-sided" inspirational book (after the bestselling I Love You More) is born. This time, the motivating query is "What's the best gift in the whole wide world?" On one side, a parent answers his daughter that "You are the best gift that I have ever received./ You're a one-of-a-kind YOU better than I could have ever believed." Scenes of frolicking, swing pushing, and other quality time activities follow, after which readers can turn the book over and find the other answer: "You see the world itself is a big gift,/ full of miracles just like you and me./ There is so much to discover/ to learn, to do, and to see." These pages take readers up mountaintops and, in the book's most winning vignette, down to the depths of the ocean, where a toothy, grinning whale awaits. Although Duksta's writing is platitudinous and rhythmically challenged, at this point it's probably critic-proof, too. The real shout-out goes to Turner (My Cat Pearl), whose naïf, cheery watercolors have a bubbly energy that smooths over the text's rough spots. Ages 4–8.

June 1, 2011

K-Gr 2-This flip-sided book is cleverly designed to contain two stories with the same ending, repeating the format of the author's I Love You More (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2007). "You Are a Gift to the World" is a sweet ode to a child and the joy that she brings to her parents and the world by virtue of being. Flip the book over, "The World Is a Gift to You" is an elemental story of the value of the natural world and how things we take for granted are precious and worth revering. The artwork is charming and comforting. The images of children with their families are reassuring and gentle, and the middle "ending" page of both stories is sure to be enjoyed over and over.-Alison Donnelly, Collinsville Memorial Public Library, IL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011
In the first half of the book, a father enumerates for his daughter why she's "the best gift that I have ever received." Readers flip the book over to find the second half, in which a different father describes for his girl the wonders of Mother Nature. The sentiments are heartfelt, but the tortured rhymes don't scan, and the faux-childlike art looks amateurish.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)