Love is Powerful
By Heather D Brewer, author
LeUyen Pham, illustrator
Candlewick, 2024.
Ages 5 to 8.
It started with Mari’s crayons. Set on the morning of the Women’s March in cold January 2017, this engaging book is filled with warm illustrations. The message of love floats across the pages, through the simple storyline while also capturing a specific moment in history. Mari is getting ready to make a sign with crayons as the streets below her fill up with people in NYC. “What are we making, Mama?” she asks. “A message for the world,” Mama says. “How will the whole world hear?” Mari wonders. “They’ll hear,” says Mama, “because love is powerful.”
The book is inspired by a 6-year-old girl who participated in the March in New York City. Brewer’s uplifting story, effectively illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is a reminder of what young people can do to promote change at a time when our country is divided by politics, race, and gender. Reading this aloud highlights acceptance and shows how impactful it is to stand up for human rights for all peoples of the world. This story gives hope and recounts a true story of the power to unify through love and positivity and how you’re never too young to be an inspiration. Sharing this book is also an opportunity to discuss how the freedoms we enjoy today were because people spoke up and spoke out in past generations. We still speak up against unkindness and injustice. We still model activism with children.
Mari raised her sign for everyone to see.
Even though she was small and the crowd was very big,
and she didn’t think anyone would hear, she called out her message.
Her mother hoists her on her shoulders and Mari finds her voice, shouting out a message that others in the crowd pick up: “Love is powerful.”
Heather Dean Brewer is a writer, artist, and art director who designs books for kids and adults. About this book she says, “I’ve often felt quiet and small and that no one could hear me. But when I joined others in the Women’s March and saw my friend Mari lifted above the crowd and heard her voice echo down the streets of New York City, I learned that even the smallest voice has the power to change the world.
LeUyen Pham is the creator of over 140 books for children. She is the recipient of the Caldecott Honor too.
Submitted by Karen Kosko
