Everything Possible

‘You can be anybody you want to be, you can love whoever you will…and know I will love you still’. The 40-year-old anthem by American folk legend, Fred Small, forms an embracing rainbow arc over this picture book. A trio of children travel from dusk to dawn and back to dusk, across their local coastal landscape. Along the way they pause within an environment populated by diverse family groupings. The lyrics’ messages of unity, love and inclusivity are powerfully embedded and Alison Brown’s digitally-layered collage illustrations glow as moon and sun beams highlight and trip off the children’s expressive faces. The end pages repeat the patterns of the protagonist’s bed quilt in the first spread, perfectly visualising the reader’s sense of being wrapped up in a cosy blanket.