School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-With a spare narrative and beautiful illustrations, this picture book tackles the subject of what to do when things seem bleak. Whimsy, a child in a mustard-and-white-striped dress and red boots, finds herself weighed down. Her "heavy things," which are rendered as black balls that look a bit like yarn, will not go away. She tries to hide them under a rug, but soon trips over them. She hoists them onto a tree, but the branch breaks. After more trial and error, and tears, "she just couldn't make the heavy things disappear." Eventually, though, Whimsy finds a solution: "she could break the heavy things into smaller pieces," and, when she does, she discovers that "heavy things are just light things in disguise." The oils and graphite spreads gently convey the bleakness the narrator feels and subtly shift in color as Whimsy becomes free of her burdens. While the message might be lost on many young readers, adults will find this title helpful for initiating discussion with anxious or sad youngsters, or to help children understand sadness.-Brooke Rasche, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The story in Kraulis's debut takes a backseat to her moody, stylish artwork. The heroine, Whimsy, is a blonde, marionettelike figure with heavy-lidded eyes and pursed red lips, and she's saddled with a collection of objects that look like cannonballs. They're the "heavy things" of the title, a metaphor for the troubles that plague her. Kraulis draws trees, fields, and water for Whimsy to swim in, but there's no place to get rid of the heavy things. Whimsy attaches them to a kite, but they won't fly away, and they sink when she tries to "float them to sea." When she discovers that she can address her heavy things one at a time and break them into small pieces-a symbol, presumably, for breaking problems down and realizing that they're not monolithic-things improve. "Whimsy... planted the pieces in the garden where they grew into a beautiful peach tree." The most striking spreads show Whimsy underwater, the surface refracting glittering light above her. Despite the book's practical and encouraging advice, though, it's the gloomy moments that linger. Ages 4-6. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.