Bread Days

When an unexpected death interrupts a special familial ritual, a child carries a shared legacy forward in this heartening story. On Bread Days, Nara first greets Papa, then the sourdough starter she’s named Paolo, which she feeds with flour and water (“One bubble. Two bubbles. Soon, Paolo filled his jar with bubbles”). Nara and Papa next mix, fold, shape, and score the dough, then bake it. But Papa misses the next Bread Day, and after that, “Papa was gone.” Without his sticky notes and flour spills, the kitchen “was too clean and tidy,” until Nara and Mama begin to feed a dormant Paolo and start baking again. Chung’s digital illustrations open with golds and pinks that echo the warmth of Bread Days, shift to blues and olives as Nara mourns Papa’s absence, then skillfully incorporate the two palettes for a visual hint at the enduring cycle of life. Characters cue as East Asian. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)