SOMETIMES I CRY

All kinds of emotions can provoke tears.

A beige-skinned, dark-haired child zooms down a hill on a bicycle, thrilled by the high speed, but crashes after riding over a small rock. Nursing a bloody knee, the protagonist bursts into tears. Thus begins a sensitive, nuanced tale that normalizes crying and makes clear that it is a part of life. The young narrator tears up from joy while playing with Dad and laughing deep belly laughs, from rage when another kid crushes the protagonist’s origami frog, from shame at letting down the team and losing a baseball game, from fear of the dark, even from seeing Grandpa’s grief and love for Grandma, who’s deceased. Displaying an age-appropriate range of emotions and a profound maturity, the empathetic youngster comes to feel at home with these complicated feelings. Townes’ honest and resonant prose grounds readers in the protagonist’s life and offers superb opportunities for discussion about social-emotional development. With stirring echoes of Ezra Jack Keats in palette and line, Miyares’ illustrations are immersive without being overwhelming. Each scene presents a tapestry of saturated hues and tones—reds, blues, yellows—that convey the way this child experiences the world. A repeated motif of teardrops, appearing in different colors and sizes, further evokes the complexity of emotions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

The perfect offering for children who want to understand why they cry.