"Set in 1935, this is the deceptively simple story of a young country girl who is sent to live with her uncle in a large, dark city . . . He is a dour, uncommunicative man whose features are fixed in a permanent scowl, and the mission [the girl] takes upon herself is to get the man to smile—just once. Upon this simple foundation, David Small and Sarah Stewart have constructed a moving, wonderfully rich illustrated story. It is that rarity, a pictorial delight that in 20 double pages gives more and more of itself each time it's read, and whose silent complexities reveal themselves with continuing pleasure."
—Edward Koren / The New York Times Book Review
Did you find this review helpful?