Riley Can't Stop Crying
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
★ “Insightfully emotional…A poignant, purposeful depiction of a family learning to recognize, confront, and heal internal struggles with self-love and self-worth. Children in need of encouragement will find comforting revelations about the value of individuality.”—School Library Journal, starred review
Riley is inconsolable. He can’t stop crying and nothing is making him feel better. His sister, Regina, tries her best to help him figure out what’s wrong, but four-year-old Riley isn't sure. It’s not his tummy, or his head, or the monsters under the bed. Regina and their dad try everything they can to make Riley smile, but nothing works until one day Regina has an idea. Maybe it’s Riley that is making Riley upset.
Regina knows what it feels like to be uncomfortable in her body, but she also knows that she’s pretty amazing and really good at a lot of things. So how can she help Riley see that he’s pretty amazing and really good at a lot of things? A charming story about a child’s search for his true self under the compassionate eye of his older sister.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This English translation of a transitional picture book introduces audiences to Regina Bibeau and her four-year-old brother, Riley. When Regina and her single father fail to cheer up the inconsolable Riley, whose tears form a puddle around his toes and eventually fill the house, Regina draws common ailments and asks Riley to indicate the source of his sorrow. But Riley existentially draws himself, leading Regina to help her brother explore his self-presentation by trading toys; purchasing different clothing, including a skirt; and soliciting a fresh haircut. Gentle-hued watercolor and gouache illustrations by Bray-Bourret depict characters with lithe rubber hose limbs and migratory facial features, creating a comedic effect that feels incongruous with Riley's distress. While solutions elide mental health concerns, Boulay and Simard accessibly interrogate identity: "we can express some of ourselves on the outside, but there will always be complicated things left inside that we don't know how to show." Ages 6 8.
