Southwest Sunrise

Jayden pouts on the plain as he makes the trip from New York City to his new home in New Mexico, unexcited for the lack of skyscrapers and the dull tans and browns awaiting him. But when Jayden wakes up the next morning to “a knife of sunlight slicing through” his new room, he is surprised to see out his “barless” bedroom window a colorful landscape “striped in rainbow.” Venturing outside with the field guide Mom gave him at breakfast, who knows that her city-raised son is still quite knowledgeable about nature, Jayden smiles as he unexpectedly discovers colorful flowers, unfamiliar animals, and wide-open skies that leave him feeling like he could “think about calling this place Home.” Minor’s gouache watercolor illustrations fittingly display the desert setting and highlight Jayden’s comparisons of New Mexico to his previous home in the city. The most impressive aspect of the book is Grimes’ stunning and poetic diction—magpies “sail on air and write across the sky with the long black tips of their tails.” The text beautifully encompasses reservations about moving and the joys of new discoveries, elevating an unoriginal topic to a unique and enjoyable story.