For this review I am going to combine My Heart Speaks Kriolu by Stefanie Foster Brown and Keisha Morris, and the title Piccolo by Dan Yaccarino. Both are currently available but were read via an online reader. This combination is not because of their themes being alike. Or even their place being mentioned, but because they have a nice “other” to them while staying familiar. both books are good books if you want something that will not be a surprise in theme, but is presented in a fresh way.
My Heart is a fun and interesting story about family and what home can mean. It is about a grandfather and grandchild. The grandfather is blind, and relies on the child for assistance, but still has his mind, his story and his love of where he is from. The child is a typical child. Loves their grandparent, enjoys their stories but also is unsure about things as they do not speak the same language. This is a story about immigration, about the past and present, and connection to others like you, and connection to your roots, no matter how far away they are.
And this story is familiar because we have read books about immigration and connecting to the places our people come from. But it is different because of the where and how it is about the language of Cabo Verde, Kriolu. I was unfamiliar with this place. I was intrigued enough to want to learn a bit more about it.
Now, Piccolo has a little bit of another language, but it is Italian. It is familiar because we know stories about people (or in this case animals) like Piccolo. We see how they have a list planned of wonderful things to do, but the number one thing waits as he loves helping out each of his friends. Yet, I did not feel that Piccolo was being taken advantage of. I was sad that something didn’t happen, but when the solution to this problem comes about, it is a nice way to allow our friend to be shown how much his friends appreciated him.
The artwork of Piccolo is simple, but there are depths to it as well. It is light and fun, colorful and not overly crowded. Even when it becomes dark at the end this combination continues. The biggest contrast between the books is here in the artwork. My Heart has a more filled in look, the colors bright but less solid, there are details and an almost dense feeling at times or a bit more serious. It is not “dark and gloomy” but does have an older feeling to it.