What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings
*Starred Review* Newbery Honor winner Sidman and Caldecott Honor winner Zagarenski once again join together to create a beautiful and meaningful book. Sidman tells readers in her introduction that chanting, blessing, lamenting, and cursing are as old as human history. Her poetic offerings will touch today’s readers, whose feelings and fears are remarkably similar to those of our ancestors. This slim volume is divided into four parts: “Chants and Charms” (“to bolster courage and guard against evil”) uses repetition in both a chant about repairing a friendship and a charm against the dark. “Spells and Invocations” (“to cause something to happen”) ranges from the practical—finding lost items—to the improbable—asking time to speed up or slow down. The sadder “Laments and Remembrances” (“to remember, regret, or grieve”) brings readers close to the bone with ruminations about illness, death, and loss. “Praise Songs and Blessings” (“to celebrate, thank, or express love”) ends the book on a high note. And while not every celebration might seem of the highest order—for instance, “Blessing on the Curl of a Cat”—the words make you see things differently. If pictures can be poetic, then Zagarenski’s surely are. Her signature stylized mixed-media pictures can be intricately designed, but some are spare: a teddy bear and a crown hugging the bottom of a tall page. An evocative book that pulls readers to a special place—their hearts. Grades 7-12. --Ilene Cooper