A Little Like Magic - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF + Giveaway

I'm always amazed at the skill of artists who construct ice or sand sculptures. They can create such amazingly detailed and intricate designs in such unforgiving materials. Not only are the impermanent, susceptible to heat and waves, but so fragile. While at the same time, so magical and awe inspiring. Whether you like ice sculptures or not, you'll enjoy this heartfelt picture book full of self-discovery and a touch of magic.

Book cover - against a stary background, a young girl in a wheelchair stares up at a large whale ice sculpture.

A Little Like Magic

Author/ illustrator: Sarah Kurpiel

Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House (2024)

Ages: 4-8

Fiction:

Themes:

Trying new things, disability, ice sculpture, art, and magic.

Synopsis:

Glistening with winter charm, this is an exhilarating, tender story of pushing past your comfort zone and finding inspiration in art and natural beauty.

Our young narrator doesn’t like itchy hats or cold wind, and she especially doesn’t like going places she’s never been before. But she reluctantly agrees to join her mom at an ice festival, where they watch sculptors chisel and drill until it’s too cold to watch anymore. That night the girl discovers that she has lost the horse figurine she’d brought with her, and she wishes she’d never gone . . . until the next night, when they return to the festival and see what the artists have created: sparkling, glorious sculptures that feel a little like magic. One surprise in particular seems even more magical to the girl. The ice art will stay with her long, long after it has melted away.

Opening Lines:

I do not want to go.

I do not like heavy coats

or itchy hats

or boots that don't let

me bend my ankles.

I don't like cold wind.

What I LOVE about this book:

The initial illustration, of a girl miserably staring out the window on a winter day clutching a toy horse, with her dog behind her on the bed, moves to this wonderful double spread of the dog comforting her and then itself watching from the same window as she braces against the cold wind.

Internal spread - on the left, cirl putting on a coat and hat as her dog watches. On the right, the girl clutches a toy horse and hunches against the cold wind.

Text & Image © Sarah Kurpiel, 2024.

Using a wonderful, limited palette of blues, tan. and black against white, Sarah Kurpiel beautifully captures the cold winter day. Instead of a gust of wind pushing at the young girl, a playful swirl of wind curls around her, suggesting the whimsy if not the magic to come. Buckling into the van, the girl continues to grump about things she doesn't like - icy roads and " going places that I’ve never been before." Although it's so cold her breath puffs out in a small cloud, the whisp of wind continues to play about her. I love Sarah Kurpiel's lyrical text. They aren't just in a line, but "lost in a forest of people." And she doesn't just hear loud noises ahead of her but hears them "even in my chest." It really captures her discomfort and minor anxiety. A new place, a large crowd, frosty weather, and a sound that reverberates through you.

Interal spread - Momstands near the van door, as the girl drives her wheelchair down the ramp. On the right, Mom and child are standing in a long curving line.

Text & Image © Sarah Kurpiel, 2024.

I’m lost in a forest of people. But

Mom is lost with me, so it’s okay.

We follow a loud whirring,

brrr-ing, buzzing sound

I hear even in my chest.

And then we see . . .

I also love that the girl's use of a wheelchair just is. It just exists as a part of her without fanfare or explanation. And that throughout the illustrations, we see another kid in a wheelchair and an older adult in a scooter. They are just shown, along with the rest of the wonderfully diverse crowd, admiring geometric, tall towers of ice which artists are carving, chipping, and heating. At this point in the sculpting, no shapes have really emerged and eventually they get too cold and head off to find hot chocolate. I don't know if it's the hot chocolate or sitting still on cold days, but moments like this tended to bring out the big questions kids have been pondering. In this case, won't the sculptures melt? And if so, why spend all this time on them? An observant reader will note the small speck on the icy pathway - her little plastic horse.

Internal spread - on the left, girl in wheelchair sits next to a bench where Mom is sitting. On the right, Mom and daughter walk off the page toard the upper right corner, while a small ilttle horse lays near the edge of the bench.

On the first page without a white background, the girl and dog fill a red page. Visually highlighting the discovery of the loss. A loss that weighs on her all day. With a call back to the opening, the girl muses on all the things she doesn't like - especially at night without her horse. Bundled, she and her mom brave the colder night and the larger crowds to discover . . .

Internal spread - in the evening, mom and girl in wheelchair move along with a diverse crowd toward the sculptures.

I hope you check out the book to see the fantastic and magical discoveries that she makes during her night visit to the park. I love Sarah Kurpiel's wonderful use of color, perspective, and focus to highlight the girl's discoveries, magical moments, and the passage of time. This is such a touching, thought-provoking, and endearing picture book, with a fantastic magical ending. It's an absolute treasure.

Resources:

$Photo collage of a balloon ice sculpture, an indoor ice scuplture, and a frozen fractal sculpture.$
try making balloon ice sculptures (if you live where it gets cold) or try some indoor ice sculptures or fractal sculptures.

watch ice carving in action with CBC Kids, Jurassic World Kids, and the BBC. If you were going to make an ice sculpture, what shape would it be? Draw a pattern for your sculpture or write a description of it.
what was the little bit of magic the girl discovered in the park? Can you think of a time when you didn't want to go somewhere but found something magical, amazing, or surprising when you did? Draw a picture or write a story about what happened.

🎈🎉 A Little Like Magic Giveaway 🎉🎈

Sarah Kurpiel is offering one lucky reader a signed book!

- Simply comment below or on Sarah's interview post on Monday to be entered in the random drawing on October 14th.

- Be sure to say where (if) you shared the post (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram), and I'll add additional entries for you.

- Sorry US residents only.

If you missed my interview with Sarah Kurpiel on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.