What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do

PreS-Gr 1–Adults may forget how easily the twists and bumps of life are traversed simply through accumulated experience. Children struggle with grown-up expectations and social graces precisely because these tasks are new and often mysterious. Here, then, is a gentle primer on navigating those day-to-day moments of uncertainty. Moving from the serene (“Breathe in…and out…”) to the playful (“Find a you-shaped space”) and back again, Bell writes with the soft, knowing tones of a trusted friend dispensing calm advice. Tapper’s endearingly loose lines and pale color palette enhance this subtle sense of familiarity. Her sweet vignettes, rendered in pencil, ink, and watercolor, peer in on an inviting community of family, friends, and acquaintances in snapshot moments demonstrating the author’s tips for getting started (stepping onto an escalator, putting brush to paper in art class) and reminders to hold back (asking before taking from a batch of freshly baked cookies, looking at the eggs in a bird’s nest without touching them). The front and back of the book neatly encapsulate its ethos: at the outset, a child stands warily at the open door of a bus, hands clasped in apprehension under the expectant gaze of the driver and passengers; flip to the back, and the same child has stepped inside, greeted by warm smiles.