What Is Given from the Heart

CORETTA SCOTT KING – JOHN STEPTOE ILLUSTRATOR AWARD FOR NEW TALENT WINNER

This final, magnificent picture book from three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honor author Patricia McKissack is a poignant and uplifting celebration of the joy of giving.

"Misery loves company," Mama says to James Otis. It's been a rough couple of months for them, but Mama says as long as they have their health and strength, they're blessed. One Sunday before Valentine's Day, Reverend Dennis makes an announcement during the service-- the Temples have lost everything in a fire, and the church is collecting anything that might be useful to them. James thinks hard about what he can add to the Temple's "love box," but what does he have worth giving? With her extraordinary gift for storytelling, McKissack--with stunning illustrations by Harrison--delivers a touching, powerful tale of compassion and reminds us all that what is given from the heart, reaches the heart.

PATRICIA C. MCKISSACK is the author of many lauded books for children, including, most recently, Let's Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout, a 2017 Parents Choice Gold Award winner, a New York Public Library, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and recipient of 3 starred reviews; The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural, a Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Award winner, and its companion, Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book; Never Forgotten, a Corretta Scott King Honor book; and The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll, an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book and winner of the 2008 Parents Choice Award. Ms. McKissack passed away in the summer of 2017. This is her final work.

APRIL HARRISON is a renowned folk artist born and currently residing in Greenville, South Carolina. Her work appears in the public collections of Vanderbilt University, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the Erskine University Museum and in many private collections. This is her first picture book. Learn more at aprilsonggallery.com.