PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Jessica Love is an illustrator and Broadway actress. She has a BA in studio art from the University of California, as well as a graduate degree from Juilliard. Julian Is A Mermaid is her first picture book. Find her online at jessicalove.org/art.
celebratory and ground-breaking * The Sunday Times Culture/The Sunday Times Ireland * The stand-out title this month is a picture book, Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love. [...] In the bravura feat of understated storytelling, the richness of Julian's free-floating imagination is caught in images layered with colour, movement, muscle and life, celebrating black and Latino experience. Julian invents a tail and flowing hair, and Nana's acceptance, as she accompanies him on a wild parade of mermaids, will leave the reader filler with joy. * The Guardian * This is Jessica Love's debut picture book, and every choice she makes - the spare text, a color palette both muted and lively, full-bleed pages that make even subway cars and apartment rooms feel as expansive as the ocean - imbues the story with charm, tenderness and humor...Alongside Julian, readers learn that anyone can be a mermaid: All it takes is love and acceptance, a little imagination and a big swishy tail. * The New York Times Book Review * Beautiful [...] Magnificent [...] Lovely [...] Magical [...] Gorgeous * RuPaul of RuPaul's Drag Race * Capturing the simple, joyful playfulness of a gender creative young boy and his wonderful grandmother this is one of the most heart-moving and beautifully illustrated children's picture books we've ever read. [...] This book is a luminous carnival of joy. * Attitude *
