Picture Book Review: One Little Bag: an amazing journey by Henry Cole

Image: Scholastic

One Little Bag: an amazing journey by Henry Cole. unpgd. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., April 7, 2020. 9781338359978. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher, ALAMW.)

Let me tell you right off the bat that I adore this book! One, it's wordless. Two, the illustrations evoke such a sense of aching nostalgia. Three, while there's the nostalgia, the story is so, so timely. Four, it's Henry freaking Cole for crying out loud! I am such a fan.

Recently someone posted a query somewhere of examples where a story starts before the title page. I didn't pay that much attention because nothing sprang immediately to mind. Knock, knock on the computer screen. This one! 

One Little Bag starts on the end-pages with a pen and ink drawing of serene woods. There are four turkey vultures ambling through the forest with one lone tree colored light brown. The page-turn reveals that this tree has been harvested and has been loaded with others onto the bed of a truck, which is headed to the paper mill. Spot art on the following page shows the process of these logs being ground up and processed, page-turn, into paper, which, page turn is eventually turned into Hart-felt paper bags. There is one final double-page spread that shows a grocery store featuring a man and his young son checking out their groceries while others wait with full carts and a delivery man is carting in a supply of the Hart-felt paper bags. 

The title page shows the man walking while the young boy bikes. The paper bag sits in his bike basket. In it is a flashlight. (Remember this for a later spread.) That bag gets reused the following day as a lunch bag. Dad is making lunch. A heart has been added to it. It is the first day of school. Spot art on the following page shows the boy eating alone but gradually joined by other children. Oh my heart!

The paper bag comes in handy in a number of different ways over the following spreads. Then suddenly, the boy is grown. A series of spot art ingeniously depicts this transition. And he's off to college with his guitar and his bag and his dad bidding him good-bye. He meets a like-minded musician and love blossoms. And that rumpled, crumpled paper bag is there through all of it. 

Okay, I won't go through every spread. You get the idea. This is a book to be savored. To be reread multiple times. To be shared widely. Each time I reread this gem, I find a new detail that I missed earlier. Seriously, these spreads invite pausing and poring. Don't rush.

So if the story of unconditional love didn't grab you, surely the idea of the paper bag as touchstone will. If that doesn't, then check out Coles' author note and dedication. He spoke about the impact that the first Earth Day had on him. Teachers looking for a fresh angle on conservation can add this to the rotation.

One Little Bag is a keeper. It is a first purchase for every school and public library. It's a gift book. Do yourself a favor and share it with a young person ASAP.