Ten Beautiful Things
Molly Beth Griffin, author
Molly Beth Griffin holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults and teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center in the Twin Cities. She is the author of Loon Baby and Silhouette of a Sparrow.
Read more about Molly Beth.
Maribel Lechuga, illustrator
Maribel Lechuga is the illustrator of Seaside Stroll and Ten Beautiful Things. She studied art at the prestigious Escuela de Arte 10 (Artediez) in Madrid.
Read more about Maribel.
- Coming soon!
Publishers Weekly
Before dawn, Lily and her Gram, both white, drive out from a city to begin a life together on Gram’s Iowa farm. Lily’s in the backseat next to her purple backpack and a box marked “STUFF”; more belongings are strapped to the car roof. Readers aren’t told why Lily is headed to live with her grandmother, but as she looks around with anxious eyes, Griffin (Rhoda’s Rock Hunt) beautifully articulates her sense of displacement: “Gram’s car tires hummed against the pavement. Lily felt the vibration in her hollow chest.” Then Gram comes up with the game of finding 10 beautiful things along the way, and as their list grows—a rural sunrise, a wind farm churning under pink clouds, a thunderstorm breaking across the plains (“Cloud banks traded lightning back and forth, showing off”)—LeChuga’s (Seaside Stroll) digital drawings feel almost cinematic, alternating between dramatic vistas and intense moments of introspection and connection. When Gram tells Lily that the 10th beautiful thing is their love for one another, the girl realizes that while the changes in her life mean that “none of this was easy,” she is where she belongs—and readers will know they’ve been fortunate to accompany her on this life-changing, emotionally expansive journey.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-936-9
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-63289-790-9 EPUB
For information about purchasing E-books, click here.
Ages: 5-8
Page count: 32
11 x 81/2