Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Kayla and Mateo live on the top floors of separate buildings in a city, connected by an old, squeaky clothesline. They are bored and alone in their drab bedrooms watching "Dino World," while the outside world is bright with sunshine. One day they greet each other through their windows and begin to send drawings along the clothesline. Mateo draws with a purple crayon, Kayla with a green one, and together they create elaborate worlds that they inhabit -- shades of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Eventually, they trade various foods between them, which leads to fanciful new prehistoric creations (such as the "pastelito-saurus" and the "piragua-saurus"). When a worker takes the clothesline down temporarily, Mateo and Kayla come up with another way to continue their adventures. They go outside and draw on sidewalks, old building walls, and playgrounds in a colorful palette beyond purple and green. Morris's collaged tissue-paper spreads add to the childlike feel; the lively illustrations invite readers to create their own crayon worlds. This appealing story by a debut author-illustrator celebrates friendship and creativity in a satisfying way.

Kirkus Reviews

Two neighborhood children become friends through their art.Kayla and Mateo live in buildings across from each other; they often look out at each other through their windows. They create drawings and then exchange them using a creaky old retractable clothesline that runs between their two buildings. Their art depicts everyday items such as the foods their loved ones prepare for them, as well as grand stories drawn from their imaginations. The two embark on fantastical imagined journeys together and even invent new dinosaur species, such as the Pastelito-saurus, inspired by the pastelitos made by Mateo's mami. When the clothesline is unexpectedly taken down to be repaired, Kayla, Mateo, and their neighbors turn the surrounding sidewalks, playgrounds, and building walls into a shared canvas of expression. Sparse yet satisfying text and dialogue, including playful use of onomatopoeia, complement the captivating digital illustrations, created from collaged tissue paper and Photoshop. The bright and colorful illustrations are the star of this work. Images of Kayla and Mateo immersed in their loose-lined doodles of their imagined worlds are a delight; readers will enjoy examining the spreads and finding new details on every page. Kayla presents Black, while Mateo, who is brown-skinned, is cued as Latine; a reference to piraguas, a Puerto Rican dessert, suggests that Kayla might be Afro-Latine.Honors the joy and simplicity of childhood. (Picture book. 4-8)

School Library Journal (Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

PreS-Gr 3— Kayla and Mateo live in different apartment buildings, but their windows are directly across from each other. One day, when they are both bored, they find that there is a clothesline on a pulley that will allow them to send things to each other. They both like drawing, so they start creating adventures together on paper. When the handyman in the building takes down the clothesline, the kids have to figure out a new way to share ideas. This is an inventive story about how working together is better than working alone. The artwork, a combination of cut-paper with markers or crayon drawings, is wonderfully effective—the cut-paper is vibrant and full, while the drawings, with an unfinished childlike feel, perfectly convey that this is the adventure that Kayla and Mateo are sharing. In addition to enjoying the story on its merits, readers will be inspired to create adventures of their own. VERDICT A terrific, imaginative piece of make-believe, perfect for a library read-aloud with excellent opportunities for extending the story.— Debbie Tanner

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

A pulley clothesline strung between two city apartment windows sparks invention and friendship for two imaginative children in this art-focused picture book. “One window belonged to Kayla,” portrayed with brown skin, who’s seen draped over a chair in a pose that speaks of unrelenting boredom. “The other belonged to Mateo,” shown with light brown skin, who is slumped just as dramatically over another chair. Though it “creaks and squeaks,” the clothesline can carry their drawings back and forth, the two realize. Soon they’re trading and adding to drawings of full-fledged fantasy adventures—Kayla’s contributions in green, Mateo’s in purple, drawn by Morris (Bitty Brown Babe) in an aptly childlike style. Sharing household treats (“When Mateo’s mami made pastelitos”) provides new ideas (“the pastelito-saurus”). Then Mr. Winston, the handyman, takes the clothesline down (“I’ll get this old thing fixed in no time”), and they find a way to take their artwork from between their windows and out into the city. Shared creativity fosters deep bonds and makes bare surroundings more beautiful in this high-energy testament to invention. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)