Coming August 27th, 2024 from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers; 40 pages
About the Author: “Ye Guo is an author and illustrator based in the United Kingdom. Art from It Is Okay was exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy, and an early version of the book was highly commended by the Macmillan Prize for Illustration in the UK. It Is Okay is Ye’s debut picture book in the English language” (Bio from Bookshop.org).
Find Ye Guo on the following platform:
It all started one day when Goat and Bunny met at the grocery store and discovered a mutual taste for canned grass. Since then, the pair have continued to bond over their shared interests. In doing so, the two find that they are not always the same. Sometimes Goat disapproves of something Bunny does. Sometimes Goat struggles, and Bunny does not. Sometimes it is the other way around. In all of those instances, it is okay. They can still be friends, and what’s more is that they can make an effort to be supportive of one another.
Every person is unique, which is something children come to learn over time. Told in few words, It Is Okay serves as a lesson to kids that people can occasionally feel differently and still be friends. With her hand-drawn doodles colored in using various mediums, Ye Guo creates a warm, welcoming environment for her characters. As the characters are, at times, imperfect, so is the scenery around them, and this is more than okay; it is an invitation to embrace originality. The story itself invites a conversation about what differences can be accepted, such as divergences in size and emotion, but I would have liked to see more on differences of opinion. All of the dissimilarities were the basic sort that would be expected in any friendly interaction with another being. This is a good starting point for children, but not all individual differences are so easily set aside, especially differences in thought. The point would have been better made had the characters encountered a discrepancy that was not so easily shrugged off. Nonetheless, the theme that “it is okay” for everyone to be one-of-a-kind is adequately introduced to kids so that hopefully they can carry it into more challenging social situations.
It Is Okay releases on August 27th, 2024.
Pine Reads Review would like to thank Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change before final publication.
Abby Ballas, Pine Reads Review Writer & Editor