The Suitcase

July 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 1-When a strange new animal arrives carrying nothing but an old suitcase, all the other animals are curious. Can they trust this tired stranger and what he says is in his suitcase? After much debate, they decide to investigate as the stranger sleeps, which leads to an accident and a happy conclusion: The stranger is welcomed to their new home. Naylor has created a short and sweet story that anyone can understand. The words and language are all clear, even color coded to match the animals, so that younger children can follow along. The story is simple while still teaching a valuable lesson. Naylor's designs truly bring life to the text, while the emotions of all the animals, especially the exhaustion of the stranger, is evident as they work through their feelings and come to understand one another. VERDICT An accessible, beautiful story of trust and acceptance for every collection.-Margaret Kennelly, iSchool at Urbana-Champaign

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2020
Preschool-G This picture book packs an emotional wallop for anyone who has sought a new life in a new land, delivering a powerful lesson on treating newcomers with kindness. When a bent blue creature, towing an enormous suitcase, arrives in the homeland of three suspicious animals?a fox, a rabbit, and a cardinal?they ask him repeatedly, What's in the suitcase? recalling an interrogation by customs or border authorities. The animals, unsatisfied with the answer that the suitcase contains a teacup, chair, table, and the stranger's home, wait for it to sleep before breaking open the bag. Inside, they discover a shattered teacup and a photo of the stranger's former home. Naylor-Ballesteros' simple pencil, ink, and watercolor drawings, set in white space, show the creature's nostalgia for home through subtle posture and contrasting color tones. The ending shows, through two photos, how the animals learned to be kind: one is of the stranger's former home, and the other is of the bright new home and tea set made for him by his newfound friends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 15, 2020
When a sad and tired-looking stranger arrives hauling a big suitcase, the animals that greet him are curious. What will they make of him and the contents of his suitcase? Right from the start readers know the creature doesn't belong in the same surroundings as the three familiar-looking earthy-toned animals that greet him: a fox, a bunny, and a bird. The stranger has an unidentifiable shape, and his skin is a pretty shade of teal. He tells them the suitcase contains a teacup, a wooden chair and table, "and there's a little kitchen in a wooden cabin where I make my tea. That's my home." Naturally, the animals don't believe that's possible. When the tired stranger curls up to rest, they look inside the suitcase. What they find is indeed what the stranger claimed--but not quite. In a two-page spread that will break readers' hearts the contents are revealed: a broken teacup and an old photo of the stranger's home, exactly as he's described it. The suitcase makes a poignant metaphor for the stranger's memories of a home left behind. The tension builds as the animals make sense of their discovery and the stranger dreams of the hardship and loss he has endured before finally waking up, all depicted in beautiful, gestural lines and delicate application of color. In a show of empathy and understanding, the animals glue his teacup back together and re-create his old home. The stranger, no longer a stranger, has found friends and a new home. A heartwarming lesson in empathy and kindness. (Picture book. 4-7)

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