MAY YOU LOVE AND BE LOVED

Wade urges readers toward bright and loving futures with an extended benediction.

Pairing sonorous lines printed in big block letters with spare, delicate watercolor, pen, and ink images of flowers, clouds, balloons, stars, foods, and other generic images, the author of What the Road Said (2021), illustrated by Lucie de Moyencourt, encourages youngsters to follow worthy paths. “May you live in awe / of this amazing planet / spinning in space.” “May your body / be your best friend.” “May you know fear / but not be driven by it. / May you know joy and follow it / everywhere.” If some of the lyrical flights (“May you learn / from the freedom / of wildflowers, / and know beauty that is / born from bravery”) may be a bit too lofty, most of Wade’s guidelines are clear enough: Be willing to try new things; embrace weirdness (“your superpower”), see and respect others; and, most importantly, “Never give up on love.” Aside from a racially and culturally diverse gallery of adult(ish) faces on one spread, human presence in the art is minimal.

Just the ticket for graduating seniors and other nest leavers: lyrical and intense, if occasionally a little vague.