I HAVE A QUESTION

A kid deals with question anxiety.

A class of elementary schoolers is learning about metamorphosis. When Ms. Gail asks if anyone has questions, most of the class seems content to work on their butterfly drawings. Only one student has a question, and through thought bubbles, the blond, light-skinned child catastrophizes wildly, imagining that the act of asking a question will lead to ridicule, exile, and eventually total isolation in outer space, with no other living creatures to witness the vulnerable act of admitting uncertainty. Of course, when the kid finally works up the nerve to ask something reasonable and inconsequential (“How do you know if a caterpillar is going to turn into a butterfly or a moth?”), it leads to an enthusiastic cascade of questions from the other students, who are now standing up and cheering their inquiries like they’re at a pep rally. With straightforward, graphic-novel–esque illustrations, this story wheels between emotional extremes, never quite hitting the right note, and it might do more to reinforce anxieties in kids than to reassure them. It’s also left unexplored why the main character leaps to these conclusions, leaving the central theme feeling forced and underdeveloped. Ms. Gail is light-skinned; the other classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Relatable but uneven.