Cape
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A young child learns that even superheroes hurt too in this heartrending story about loss and love, written by debut author Kevin Johnson and illustrated by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Kitt Thomas.
When a child loses the person in his life that he loves more than anything, he uses his cape as protection from his grief. On the day of the funeral, he uses it to block out the pictures and stories people share, refusing to acknowledge the memories that keep bubbling up. He won't think about them. He doesn't want to.
He avoids the memories, until he no longer can.
He remembers then. Their laugh, their smile, the moment they gave him the cape. The cape transforms, becoming a source of comfort and strength as the child navigates the sadness and joy that these memories bring up.
In Cape, Kevin Johnson has crafted an achingly beautiful and honest story about processing and redefining grief after the loss of a loved one. With evocative illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist Kitt Thomas (Stacey’s Extraordinary Words), Cape is a powerful, unforgettable, and necessary story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a weighty picture book debut that considers a child's experience of grief, Johnson follows a Black child narrator who uses a red cape to navigate the emotions associated with losing a loved one. On the day of that loved one's funeral, observational text describes the burial ("We ride in a slow parade of cars/ and place you by the stones"), while Thomas (My Fade Is Fresh) uses sedate blues and grays to capture the gathered mourners' sadness and the child's feelings. The child wears a bright red cape that flows freely across every image, and when the adults reminisce "at a party where no one smiles," the child refuses to participate: "I. DON'T. WANT. TO." Memories, the narrator says, "make my swallow hurt," so "I block them with my cape. I fly them to outer space. I hide them in a sunken ship." After suppressing the recollections, though, they bubble back up: bright, colorful hues depict the protagonist embracing joyful memories shared with the late figure, and recognizing the cape as a means of connection with the dearly departed and the living. An author's note concludes. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Kevin Lewis, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator's agent: Chad Beckerman, CAT Agency.
