Hello, friends! Our book today is In Every Life by Marla Frazee, a lovely meditation on the ups and downs of being alive, and the thread of love that connects us all through it.

In every birth, the blessing is in the wonder of that new life. In every smile, the blessing is in the light that the smile brings to those who experience it. With simple call-and-response text that finds grace in the building blocks of the human experience (such as hope, sadness, and love), the reader is shown that there are blessings to be found in every moment, good or bad, that is spent with the people who fill our lives with love.

Gorgeous. Though Frazee’s text is spare, each phrase is packed with universal relevance, especially when combined with her meticulously detailed and lifelike artwork. Each page of text is filled with 8 to 14 vignettes that illustrate the phrase that they accompany (“In every hope, blessed is the doing,” for instance, features characters of various ages potty training, watering a garden, preparing a turkey for the oven, playing the guitar, etc.), while the following two-page spread is a full-bleed, textless landscape that shows the scale of quiet moments in human life against a vast natural setting. The characters featured are incredibly diverse across a number of identities, including race, age, ability, gender, sexuality, family composition, body type/modification, and more. Combined, it is humbling, uplifting, and deeply resonant, giving a sense of human connection to both our loved ones and to strangers. The length is perfect for a storytime, and JJ and I both loved it. This is a stunning work and a must-read, and we can’t recommend it enough. Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)