Debut author Jordan Morris and illustrator Charlie Mylie (Something for You; Anything with You) have built Out on a Limb, their divine feelings-front picture book, around one kid's experience with a temporary disability--and a permanently wonderful grandfather.
Lulu has a broken leg, which means lots of "special attention" plus a "sympathy trove." On the downside, because of her cast, she must "think of new ways to do ordinary things." Lulu's frustration with her injury is gradually winning out over its novelty, so when her cast is finally removed after six weeks, she's surprised to feel something other than elation. Not only does she miss the spotlight the cast invites, but she's finding reentry into the ambulatory world a little scary.
Morris leaves no feeling unturned in Out on a Limb, for which Mylie has created a pigtailed protagonist whose every emotion commands her face like a newspaper headline. Mylie introduces to his largely grayscale, digitally tweaked graphite art a glowing yellow that highlights, among other objects of interest, Lulu's cast and the envelope containing the letter that her perceptive grandfather mails to her. Scattered throughout the book are wordless panels showing the waylaid letter's circuitous journey until it lands in a bird's nest; Lulu retrieves it after screwing up her courage and climbing a tree. "Some things just need a little extra time," Grandpa tells Lulu regarding the letter's delayed arrival, but of course he is talking about something else, too. His letter makes all the difference in Lulu's emotional recovery, which, Out on a Limb reminds readers, can sometimes be more difficult than the physical piece. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author