Ten Beautiful Things

by Molly Griffin (Author) Maribel Lechuga (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

A heartfelt story of changing perspectives, set in the Midwest. Ten Beautiful Things gently explores loss, a new home, and finding beauty wherever you are.

Lily and her grandmother search for ten beautiful things as they take a long car ride to Iowa and Lily's new home with Gran. At first, Lily sees nothing beautiful in the April slush and cloudy sky. Soon though, Lily can see beauty in unexpected places, from the smell of spring mud to a cloud shaped like a swan to a dilapidated barn. A furious rainstorm mirrors Lily's anxiety, but as it clears Lily discovers the tenth beautiful thing: Lily and Gran and their love for each other.

Ten Beautiful Things leaves the exact cause of Lily's move ambiguous, making it perfect for anyone helping a child navigate change, whether it be the loss of a parent, entering or leaving a foster home, or moving.

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Hardcover
$17.99

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
An emotionally resonant picture book.

Kirkus

The simple act of looking for beautiful things can help make life itself beautiful again ... Stunning illustrations and a quiet appreciation of the natural world combine to create a positive message about change.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Before dawn, Lily and her Gram, both white, drive out from a city to begin a life together on Gram's Iowa farm. Lily's in the backseat next to her purple backpack and a box marked "STUFF"; more belongings are strapped to the car roof. Readers aren't told why Lily is headed to live with her grandmother, but as she looks around with anxious eyes, Griffin (Rhoda's Rock Hunt) beautifully articulates her sense of displacement: "Gram's car tires hummed against the pavement. Lily felt the vibration in her hollow chest." Then Gram comes up with the game of finding 10 beautiful things along the way, and as their list grows--a rural sunrise, a wind farm churning under pink clouds, a thunderstorm breaking across the plains ("Cloud banks traded lightning back and forth, showing off")--LeChuga's (Seaside Stroll) digital drawings feel almost cinematic, alternating between dramatic vistas and intense moments of introspection and connection. When Gram tells Lily that the 10th beautiful thing is their love for one another, the girl realizes that while the changes in her life mean that "none of this was easy," she is where she belongs--and readers will know they've been fortunate to accompany her on this life-changing, emotionally expansive journey. Ages 5-8. (Jan.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

♦ Ten Beautiful Things is a gentle, affecting story about a young girl coming to terms with leaving her home behind to move in with her Gram.
All Lily knows about where she will live with Gram is the X marked on an empty patch of land on her map. Gram, knowing change is hard, suggests the pair work together to find 10 beautiful things along the way to Iowa. Lily doubts they will find beauty, but when dawn breaks, she's awed by a magnificent sunrise—she's found number one! They drive on and, just as Lily feels the complaints starting in her belly again, Gram points to number two: spinning windmill blades that gleam in the morning sun. Lily quickly finds number three, a red-winged blackbird perched on a swaying stalk of last year's corn, and the two travelers continue their search for all 10 things, finding a falling-apart barn, the rich smell of mud and a swan-shaped cloud.
Molly Beth Griffin (Rhoda's Rock Hunt) never explains the reason Lily must make her home with Gram. Instead, she packs her eloquent text with sensory details that masterfully link Lily's inner and outer journeys. Likewise, Maribel Lechuga's deftly colored and textured mix-media illustrations feature grand vistas as well as intimate closeups of the grandmother and granddaughter, evoking the unfolding wonders of this difficult trip. Ten Beautiful Things is a deeply touching, ultimately uplifting story. By the end of the drive, readers will know without a doubt, just as Lily does, that she now belongs here, with Gram. —Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI Discover: In this deeply touching story, Lily must move to Iowa to live with Gram, who suggests they find 10 beautiful things along the way.
—Shelf Awareness, starred review

♦ In this gorgeous story about claiming home where we are loved, Lily's grandma proposes a game to ease the pain of moving: they'll find ten beautiful sights to celebrate along the way. Though at first Lily's vision is obscured by grief, she is soon able to note: a brilliant sunrise. A cawing bird. The earthy smell of mud. Her heart opens as their ride reaches its end, resulting in triumph. Its attentive, bright illustrations help to make this a perfect picture book.
—Foreword Reviews, starred review 

Molly Griffin
Molly Beth Griffin is a graduate of Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children and young adults and a writing teacher at the Loft Literary Center in the Twin Cities. She is the author of Loon Baby and Silhouette of a Sparrow.

Maribel Lechuga is the illustrator of Seaside Stroll. She has always felt an attraction to drawing and art, and she was fascinated by cartoons of the 1990s. She studied art at the prestigious Escuela de Arte 10 (Artediez) in Madrid. www.maribellechuga.com
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781580899369
Lexile Measure
640
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Charlesbridge Publishing
Publication date
January 12, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
Library of Congress categories
Grandmothers
Grandparent and child
Moving, Household
Loss (Psychology)
Life change events
Iowa
Automobile travel
ALSC Notable Children's Book
Selection 2022

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