Gabrielle Grimard

Wow. I'm not sure a children's picture book has ever invoked such polarizing reactions from me. Our protagonist, Lila, is a stunningly beautiful, sweet little girl endeavoring to fit in at her new school consisting solely of WASPy students. Lila's specific heritage is unclear, but she seems to be the only girl with dark hair, eyes, and skin - for which she is ridiculed, as bratty little punks of children are wont to do. But instead of taking a predictable approach of Lila directly addressing show more the instigator of the bullies (which is a fine arc, but a bit tired), she instead owns it by dressing herself beautifully as a crow for the costume party - embracing the very manner her appearance was mocked. The concept of "reclaiming" hurtful words/names is beautifully introduced to children in this manner.

With such a unique take on overcoming cultural and personal differences, along with the breathtakingly beautiful artwork, I cannot wait to add this one to our home library. A free digital copy was provided for reviewing purposes. show less

The illustrations are so soft and sad, which is fitting because this book made me sad. Lila is bullied for weeks and weeks because of her crow-dark hair and skin and eyes, with one little asshole named Nathan leading the charge against her because I guess he needs to feel like the other kids will follow his lead. So Nathan calls her names three days in a row and then forgets about her because she hides from his taunts, until a crow gifts her hundreds of feathers which she notices are more show more beautiful than she realized, and she embraces the epithet and dresses like a crow for the autumn festival and the kids all realize that crows are actually pretty great, and even that asshole Nathan somehow comes around and starts to wear crow feathers in his hair. Which is nice but implausible. There must be another picture book somewhere in which Nathan has an internal journey of self-acceptance as well and learns empathy. Also, throughout, there are no adults trying to mitigate the bullying and the obvious trouble that Lila is having fitting in. The kids are never rebuked for teasing the new girl, no teacher notices that Lila has started hiding herself behind more and more layers of clothing and that she never participates in school (I assume) and that she sits alone for recess every day. The only one who cares at all is the crow! show less

The illustrations are beautiful -- really, really nice. The story is sad -- Lila is outcast because a boy says her hair is as dark as a crow, then her skin, then her eyes. She comes into her own at the end, but it's not a lighthearted sort of book.

I had mixed feelings after reading this book. I liked the book because the illustrations are beautiful. The illustrations are sketches that are extremely detailed, colorful, and precise. The colors fit well for the story because they were more dark and dreary in the beginning and then became brighter when Lila was happy. I also liked that it was a unique story about overcoming adversity. Lila was made fun of for looking different and was called a crow. Usually the protagonist would just show more confront the bully, however in this story Lila took a different approach by making a wonderful crow outfit for the fall festival. This caused her classmates to look at her differently and respect her. The thing I did not like about this book is that I felt like it was drawn out. I feel like the same point could have been made by only talking about her bullying experiences 2 or 3 times, instead of 4. It became very repetitive. The moral of the story is that you can turn something hurtful into something positive. Although things may not seem great at the time, you will overcome your problems. show less