Promises Made, Promises Kept

I Promise by Catherine Hernandez and Syrus Marcus Ware published by Arsenal Pulp Press is a story of infinite love. It’s a lyrical love letter from parent to child about all the different ways they are loved in all different iterations of family.

I love the way Catherine Hernandez uses a question and answer format, just like most small children use with their parents. Why? Why this and why that? The parent responds with promises made to each child and fulfilled by the adults that love them unconditionally.

The illustrations by Syrus Marcus Ware are, to be honest, not ones I am usually drawn to. However the vibrant colours and the simple lines along with the author’s words drew me right in and held me tight.  What a beautiful story to share with a child during a quiet moment such as bedtime, given the child in the story is getting ready to head off to bed and using the bedtime routine to ask all of those elaborate questions they do when they have a moment in their busy days. I commend the book’s design team for including a photo of both author and illustrator With their bios. It is vitally important that children can see who the authors and illustrators are to show them that all people can create beauty.

I Promise is an Own Voices story, something we desperately needed more of in the Canadian children’s book industry. Stories written AND illustrated by people from marginalized communities whose stories are traditionally left out of the kidlit narrative or worse, often told from a white or colonial perspective. I urge teachers and parents to really examine the books on your shelves or borrowed from the libraries and consider who is telling the story. Is that person is the right person to tell the story? Too often we see books written by white authors featuring main characters who are Black or people of colour. Why are publishers not publishing books featuring these characters written by authors from these communities? A big question I hope publishers are working to correct.