Milo Imagines the World

If there is anything that causes us trouble, it's our own unconscious biases and our failure to acknowledge them. We look at people and imagine their story based on what we see on the surface.

I love Milo Imagines the World for this very reason. You have a young child exploring their imagination and creating stories for the people he encounters. During his trip he realizes there can be a lot more to people than what he sees. We as readers learn this about Milo as well.

This was a great book. Cleverly crafted and explores the simplistic things we do that are often the root of our judgements and biases.

“Maybe you can’t really know anyone just by looking at their face.”

MILO IMAGINES THE WORLD is poignant picture book written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson, the duo that brought us the award-winning LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET and CARMELA FULL OF WISHES. A sweet and sensitive exploration of the unconscious biases we all walk through the world with, MILO IMAGINES THE WORLD follows Milo and his sister on a long subway ride across the city.

As Milo sits on the subway, he is a shook-up soda of emotions. To calm himself, he studies the faces around them and imagines what their lives may look like. To Milo, the whiskered older man lives among clutter and cats, the woman in a wedding dress is on her way to a show more grand cathedral ceremony, and the little boy in a suit is headed home to a castle with maids, a butler, and a gourmet chef. But when the boy gets off at the same stop as Milo and his sister, and begins walking the same path as them, Milo realizes that maybe you can’t know anyone’s story by just looking at their face.

Robinson’s signature collage artwork is interspersed with snapshots of Milo’s sketchbook to create a storytelling experience that invites the reader onto the subway and into Milo’s heart and mind. MILO IMAGINES THE WORLD encourages readers to re-examine their first impressions of others and provides a great starting point for important conversations with kiddos.

Small spoiler: at the conclusion of the book, we learn that Milo and his sister are visiting their mother in prison. The sensitivity with which de la Peña approaches this topic does a fantastic job at normalizing visiting an incarcerated parent.

CW: incarceration show less

Milo is on a long subway ride with his older sister. To pass the time, he studies the faces around him and makes pictures of their lives. There's the whiskered man with the crossword puzzle; Milo imagines him playing solitaire in a cluttered apartment full of pets. There's the wedding-dressed woman with a little dog peeking out of her handbag; Milo imagines her in a grand cathedral ceremony. And then there's the boy in the suit with the bright white sneakers; Milo imagines him arriving home to a castle with a drawbridge and a butler. But when the boy in the suit gets off on the same stop as Milo--walking the same path, going to the exact same place--Milo realizes that you can't really know anyone just by looking at them.

I adore this book! It is absolutely gorgeous and moving with vignettes of humor and interest for everyone. From the first page, you are drawn in to Milo's world and his way of seeing it. Christian Robinson's illustrations are such that you just want to sit and look like really look at everything. The prose is beautiful ("shaken like a soda" really stuck with me) and the way the story is built up to an unexpected conclusion is so full of empathy and joy at the same time.

Once again, de la Peña and Robinson create magic. Milo is on his monthly subway ride, drawing pictures and imagining the lives of his fellow riders. But when the boy in the suit and perfectly parted hair gets off on the same stop and heads the same direction as Milo and his sister, Milo realizes that first impressions can be deceptive, and it's impossible to know others' lives on just a glance. Beautifully written and illustrated, evoking empathy and feeling.

Oh my goodness. What a book. This pairing did "Last Stop on Market Street" together and I love this book infinitely better. I need to own it. I want to do it in an in person storytime (where the diversity, the beauty, the conversation topics.....all of it can be done with more effect).

The over-arching premise is this: you never can gauge a person solely based on their look. Milo draws his endings for the people on the subway train. BUT what if he is wrong? He discovers he has been wrong about the boy he thought lived the picture perfect life. I won't spoil the true revelation for you but if you get tears in your eyes, I can't say I blame you.

This book promotes conversation. I love that in children's literature.

Milo discovers a boy in a suit, who he believes has a perfect life BECAUSE he wears a suit. As it turns out, both Milo and the boy in the suit end up at the local prison’s visitation center to visit their moms. This story highlights the undeniable fact that we all stereotype, but like Milo says, you can never tell what anybody’s life is like just by looking at their exterior.