THE QUIET ONE

A shy girl dreads an upcoming school presentation but, with a little help, finds her voice.

Milly is the “quiet one” in class, secluded in the corner with a book. She worries about show and tell next Friday—what if she doesn’t have anything to say? At home, she hides out in her family’s junk shed, creating wondrous inventions from old things. One day she repairs a broken robot vacuum. Milly uses her tools and some spare parts to add wheels, appendages, and other frills to the gray, blocky, droidlike figure, and when she turns it on, it opens its eyes and introduces itself as Arnold. At last, Milly has a friend, and she begins to share her ideas with her creation; together, they build a spectacular playground out of found items. Friday arrives, and Lee cleverly depicts the audience as huge and looming figures several times Milly’s size. Milly’s fear is palpable, and she freezes up. But Arnold comes to the rescue, and before she knows it, Milly is swept up, enthusiastically describing how she made Arnold. Watercolor and colored pencil artwork dominated by earthy tones create a warm, childlike look and convey the underlying message that humble appearances can contain great depth and creativity. Milly has paper-white skin and dark hair; her classmates vary in skin tone.

A reminder that there’s a spark inside every one of us.