During the last gray New England winter, our seaside town was brightened by lights, and on my walks, I noticed that many homes offered the same wish spelled out for the future: HOPE. A dream of brighter days ahead is also the theme of many beautiful new children’s books that came out of the dreariness of 2020. 

Rainbows have always been a sign of hope, and early in the pandemic they were popping up in windows everywhere—painted rainbows, quilted rainbows, simple as well as very fancy rainbows. What is more beautiful, and hopeful, than the colors of the rainbow? These pictures were a way for young children to deal with a strange new world, and to express belief that pandemics, like thunderstorms, will come to an end someday. Two new books celebrate this gesture. In The World Made a Rainbow, we see 2020 from a very young child’s perspective: “All of the world had to stay home today. I wished that it didn’t.”
The World Made a Rainbow by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by Emily Hamilton (Bloomsbury, 2020. Benefits Save the Children.) Ages 3–7.

New activities like FaceTime, long walks and sharing memories help her look forward to sunnier days. Eighteen illustrators of children’s books make colorful “rainbows” of their own creation in Share Your Rainbow.
Share Your Rainbow: 18 Artists Draw Their Hope for the Future (Random House, 2020. Benefits World Central Kitchen.) Ages 4 – 8.

What makes a kid awesome? Is it curiosity, creativity, or good manners? Is it getting back on the skateboard with skinned knees? Is it being a superhero—who might, once in a while—be afraid? In I Am Every Good Thing, Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James explore and celebrate, in poetry and brilliant illustrations, what it means to be a Black boy, “my ancestors’ wildest dream,” so worthy of being loved.
I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020) Ages 5–8.

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Being in a new situation—a new school, for example, with kids who are not yet friends—can be scary, and the child in When You Need Wings finds strength she didn’t know she possessed. Letting her mind take flight on wings of imagination, she learns to dance, laugh and even roar—alone—until she is ready to return to the schoolyard and to the strangers who are now her playmates. We have all got these wings, if we know how to use them.
When You Need Wings by Lita Judge (Atheneum, 2020) Ages 3–6.

The soup kitchen in Our Little Kitchen reminds me exactly of the place of hospitality where our family volunteered when our children were pre-teens. Author and illustrator Jillian Tamaki based this happy book with its bright, comic-book-style illustrations on her own experiences at a similar kitchen in Brooklyn. It is noisy, it is chaotic, and it smells really good! It is a small space with a big heart, where anyone—ANYONE—is welcome to share a hot meal and a sense of belonging. Tamaki offers recipes on the end sheets for hearty dishes that anyone can make using just a few inexpensive ingredients.
Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2020) Ages 4–8

“Leo lived with his dad in an old blue house next to a tall fir tree.” So begins The Blue House, by Phoebe Wahl. This family of two has made a happy home there, but it is clear from Wahl’s intensely colored watercolor and pencil illustrations that the Blue House is too shabby, too overgrown and rundown to remain in a neighborhood where other homes are being snatched up and torn down by developers. Leo is devastated by the news that they have to move, and that day is a sad one for both Leo and Dad but music, art and an apple pie help to make their new house start to feel like home.
The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020) Ages 5–8.

The phrase “inshallah” means “if God wills it,” and it is used throughout the Arabic-speaking world to express hope for the future. In Hena Khan’s Like the Moon Loves the Sky, a mother uses this term to offer her love and dreams for her growing child. The mother’s wishes—“Inshallah you plant gardens filled with sweet fruits” “Inshallah you feel safe, like all children should”—are quietly comforting, and Saffa Khan’s digital illustrations are saturated with gorgeous earth tones.
Like the Moon Loves the Sky by Hena Khan, illustrated by Saffa Khan (Chronicle, 2020) Ages 2–6.