Love, Violet

Violet (pale skin, short red hair, purple coat, cowboy hat) has a crush on a girl in her class, but is too shy to give her the special valentine she made for her. When Violet's hat flies off in a gust of wind and the valentine goes flying, the two girls chase after it together.

Very sweet. Warm colors for a wintertime story.
*
Re-read February 2024

Love, Violet is a sweet picture book about overcoming shyness, acceptance and making friends with someone you like and admire. Violet loves Mira. She admires her outgoing spirit and the way snow falls on her eyelashes. She made Mira a special Valentine, but is too shy to deliver it. When an unfortunate accident happens, Violet realizes that Mira also likes her. Mira is the only one that has ever been nice to her. It turns out, Mira also likes Violet and had been wearing a picture of a violet flower in a locket near her heart. The two become friends and have adventures.

Race, sexual orientation and gender presentation aren't addressed in the book, so the love that Violet has for Mira is an abstract emotion that can be interpreted by the show more reader. The main theme of the book is that a person just needs a little bravery to make new friend. show less

Lovely. Children who experience having crushes as they make friends are so lucky - when they grow up, they'll choose someone compatible and kind, and not choose on the basis of infatuation.

little girls like little girls - I remember this myself.

Stonewall Award Winner 2023

Violet only has eyes for one other child in her class: Mira.

Violet longs to spend her days dreaming and adventuring with Mira. But whenever Mira comes close, Violet panics and is unable to speak. In the winter, Violet gets an idea: If she can’t express her feelings in words, maybe she can express them through art. She decides to make Mira an extra-special valentine, covering it with glitter and signing it, “Love, Violet.” On Valentine’s Day, she tucks the paper heart under her lucky cowboy hat and plucks up her courage. But no amount of preparation or lucky charms can protect Violet from what happens next. After bumping into Mira, Violet trips and falls, and the whole class laughs at her. At recess, her hat flies away, leaving show more the valentine she made soaked with snow. It takes all Violet’s courage and resilience to pick herself up, dust herself off, and express her feelings—but when she does, the results are more wonderful than her wildest dreams. The book’s text is action-packed and heartfelt, capturing the juddering rhythms of Violet’s nervousness, and the watercolor illustrations are suffused with emotion, detail, and movement. The gentle, child-friendly romance at the heart of the story is a perfect celebration of courage and queerness, and earnest, awkward Violet is a protagonist every reader will root for. Violet presents White, and Mira has brown skin.

A sweetly empathetic, child-friendly girl-girl romance. (Picture book. 3-6)

-Kirkus Review show less