Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Eye-catching, perspective-shifting illustrations pair beautifully with simple text to embrace a child's world.Spare, poetic text offers a steady rhythm that builds from a small flower to a fish, from a cloud to a child, as the story slowly widens its view to encompass the natural world. A young, black-haired, light-skinned girl who presents Asian explores the land, sea, and sky around her, from the smallest bug to the biggest wave. Unafraid, she instead feels connected and reflects: "I am a small part of it all," embodying curiosity and wonder. Sprawled at the bottom of a hillside, she says, "I'm a pebble that rolls down a mountain," as a pebble plummets down a mountain peak in the background. Her unbridled joy at interacting with the natural world is infectious, and readers won't be able to keep their own smiles hidden for long. Collage artwork features ink, charcoal pencil, torn tissue, and cut paper for bright, patterned textures to discover. Bold colors frame but do not overtake the gentle story, and the composition of each spread deserves close attention—Yuly carefully balances white space and color and zooms out from macro focus to wide angle to demonstrate scale and perspective.A story that ends as it begins—colorful, peaceful, and just right for the youngest naturalists. (Picture book. 3-6)

ALA Booklist (Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

In her signature illustration style, Yuly offers a darling picture book inviting little ones to contemplate and appreciate their places in relation to the whole wide world. Short, gently rhythmic sentences pair with modern multimedia illustrations that pop against the crisp, white backgrounds of the pages. The playful narrator, a girl in big green boots with a floppy red bow in her hair, expresses a deep sense of mindfulness for nature, observing the many small ways the natural world contributes to the world's greatness, including herself: among pebbles, fish, and splashing waves, the girl says, "I am a small part of it all." Each double spread features collage artwork in a soft color palette and images that neatly link to the text, which should make it easy for young ones to see the connections among the images. Perfect for spring or summer seasons to encourage kids to get outside and strengthen their relationships with nature, this soft-tempo story is a nice match with Jane Yolen's Owl Moon (2013) and Xelena Gonzalez's All Around Us? (2017).

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Likening herself to elements in nature--a leaf, pebble, cloud, and flower--a young girl declares: "I am a small part of it all." Yuly's spare, six-sentence text gently articulates the narrator's feeling of being connected with nature. Distinctive digital-collage, charcoal-pencil, and ink illustrations feature torn tissue and cut paper with recycled-looking textures and rough edges.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Eye-catching, perspective-shifting illustrations pair beautifully with simple text to embrace a child's world.Spare, poetic text offers a steady rhythm that builds from a small flower to a fish, from a cloud to a child, as the story slowly widens its view to encompass the natural world. A young, black-haired, light-skinned girl who presents Asian explores the land, sea, and sky around her, from the smallest bug to the biggest wave. Unafraid, she instead feels connected and reflects: "I am a small part of it all," embodying curiosity and wonder. Sprawled at the bottom of a hillside, she says, "I'm a pebble that rolls down a mountain," as a pebble plummets down a mountain peak in the background. Her unbridled joy at interacting with the natural world is infectious, and readers won't be able to keep their own smiles hidden for long. Collage artwork features ink, charcoal pencil, torn tissue, and cut paper for bright, patterned textures to discover. Bold colors frame but do not overtake the gentle story, and the composition of each spread deserves close attention—Yuly carefully balances white space and color and zooms out from macro focus to wide angle to demonstrate scale and perspective.A story that ends as it begins—colorful, peaceful, and just right for the youngest naturalists. (Picture book. 3-6)