Small Things Mended

The healing power of community is tenderly expressed in this picture book for fans of A Sick Day for Amos McGhee and Last Stop on Market Street.

Kindly Cecil has a broken heart, but when the kids in his neighborhood start asking him to fix their valuables—a music box, a watch, a stuffed elephant—he gradually finds that he knows just how to do this mending. And in return, his circle of new friends offers the mending that his own heart needs.

This gentle, kindhearted story brings the generations of a community together to sustain and enrich one another, and it beautifully showcases the value of fixing things―and loving their history―rather than quickly discarding them.