Dream for the Land

Zea Kemp (Desert Song) and Espinosa (The World Belonged to Us) begin this somber picture book at sunrise, as Pá lines the Latinx-cued family’s boots up by the door. Though coffee burbles cozily in its pot, it becomes apparent that not all is well for the family, whose crops are beset by drought and more: “The tomatoes look withered on the vine. This is the second batch that hasn’t made it.” When a horned toad startles the book’s dress-clad child protagonist outside, Pá explains that kissing the creature could grant a wish. Pencil and digital scenes alternate between a past landscape—“green as jewels. Fed by a cobalt river Pá swam in when he was a boy”—and the dry present-day terrain, about which the child’s parents worry. Understanding that “hope is not enough. What we need is magic,” the child wishes upon another horned toad, dreaming “for the land and the world as it once was.... For the world as it could be.” Landscape-focused illustrations showcase the arid conditions alongside the worried, strained look on the characters’ faces in this contemplative look at the real effect of a changing climate across three generations. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Elizabeth Rudnick, Gillian MacKenzie Agency. (May)