Published by Scholastic

Summary:  Before getting to the title page, this wordless book takes the reader on a brief journey from a forest being logged to a paper mill to a hardware store where a boy and his father buy a flashlight that’s put in a paper bag.  As the main story begins, Dad makes his son lunch and packs it in that paper bag, now decorated with a single red heart.  As the boy grows up, he learns to fix cars and play guitars, still accompanied by the bag that holds tools, music, or snacks.  The bag goes off to college with him and plays a role in the young man meeting his future wife (who adds a second heart).  The two have their own son (heart #3), whose loving grandfather helps the boy add a fourth heart.  The bag’s final job is as a container for a sapling, which the family plants, completing the cycle back to the forest.  Includes an author’s note telling how the first Earth Day inspired him to use the same paper lunch bag for three years of high school (then gave it to a friend who used it for another year!).  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Henry Cole has produced another masterful wordless book that is easy to understand yet deeply celebrates family and the environment.  Young readers will find themselves thinking more about where their “disposable” paper goods come from after enjoying this story.

Cons:  This might not live up to kids’ expectations of “an amazing journey”.

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