Touch the Sky
Review posted January 18, 2025.
Carolrhoda Books, 2024. 36 pages.
Review written January 15, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
Okay, this is a picture book that needed to exist. It's wonderful. It's perfect. It's about learning to pump and make a swing go.
Our hero is Vern, a kid with long hair (the better for streaming out behind him) who loves to twist and spin on the swings, but doesn't know how to pump. Some of the other kids laugh, but finally a girl sees him trying and offers to help.
It takes a lot of explaining and lots of encouragement.
It feels hard until you get it, and then it's not.
And yes, we see all of Vern's struggles - his awkward twists, out-of-sync movements, and even falls. And maybe there's somebody out there who learned to pump on their very first try, but I, for one, was transported back to childhood and remember how hard it was before it was easy.
And the illustrations! Those transported me back, too. The swooping! The gliding! That feeling when your toes touch the sky! It's all captured here on the page.
This picture book isn't a how-to manual for learning to pump a swing, but it does offer plenty of tips. And most of all, it models persistence, along with taking and giving a helping hand. And the glorious joy of a new skill and the ability to touch the sky.