Leila and the Voice
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A modern fable about a young girl who embarks on a journey to overcome fear and meets a supernatural creature along the way, for readers of What the Road Said and Where the Wild Things Are.
When the angry cloud comes... Leila runs. The cloud grows and grows, and Leila walks deeper and deeper into its depths. Then she hears a voice. Underneath all the cloudiness is a spot of light. Leila works to dig the Voice out bit by bit, until she has a companion to walk with.
Whether drawing them a map for when they get lost or creating a net for when they fall, Leila's finally able to soar with the Voice into a world of technicolor light. But will it be enough for them to complete their voyage home?
Leila and the Voice is a picture book about the journeys we start, the fear we face, and the courage we grow into as we learn that we've had what we needed all along to face what scares us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Via immersive artwork and emotive prose, Maydani explores what it takes to be resilient in the face of big emotions. When an ominous "mad cloud" of darkening scribbles grows to fill the page, young Leila, who reads as Black, flees into a forest, worriedly sitting "lost and alone," until a constrained whisper can be heard. After Leila works to free it, the voice—characterized as a large magenta beast inscribed with petroglyph-like etching—"grows brave enough to meet her," and the pair soon bond. With the return of the mad cloud, Leila transforms her companion into a battle-ready "sea serpent," and the duo confront the foe—the voice becoming a source of significant reassurance. Bold scratchboard etchings, combined with chalk, pastel, and watercolor, throb with a vibrant coloring that's well-matched to wild, overgrown jungle scenes. The unruly nature of the illustrations goes far in conveying the emotional struggle communicated by sometimes conceptual text. In a closing scene, Leila glows, striding across the page with an empowered confidence—an inspiring end note to a story that resonates with emotional depth. Ages 4–8.
