LIFE IS MORE THAN THIS COVINGTON POND
by Portia Y. Clare
Clare’s picture book chronicles a child’s lifelong love of transportation.
Nann, a young Black girl, is constantly curious about the world around her. She thinks about how machines work, where her Daddy goes to work, and everything she’s never seen before. She’s outside watching for airplanes, which she does often, when her trucker dad gets home. Nann’s always lived happily with her family in Covington Pond, but her father has always encouraged her to remember that life is about more than a single place. To that end, he takes Nann and her brothers for drives; some are to a nearby town and others extend farther to visit notable bridges or to buy school clothes. When Aunt Odessa visits from New York City, she regales her loved ones with tales of city life and subways. Later, Nann takes fun trips to New York, as well as to Washington, D.C. Clare presents an effective story about how a supportive family can makes all the difference when one is pursuing one’s dreams. Alderson’s realistic, full-color pastel illustrations are skillfully done and will engage readers as they follow the events of the text. The pages contain somewhat more text than is typical for picture books, but the book’s design and layout generally work well with the images.
A pleasant, family-oriented tale of expanding one’s horizons.