Looking for Love: There's This Thing by Connah Brecon

IT'S ALL...

AND....

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IT BETTER, BUT I'M NOT VERY BRAVE.

When the girl thinks about it, she imagines a fizzy bottle of soda pop overflowing, and when she imagines it, she knows it will be something like how she feels when she hugs her cat.

Our girl is looking for love, and at first she is looking for love in all the wrong places.

She leaves a trail of crumbs, and a hungry, honking goose finds her. She sets a deadfall trap with a stick and a box, but what she catches is a very disgruntled bear.

She makes her way down Hope Street, and stops in front of the KEY SHOP, wondering what will open up all the thoughts in her heart.

Dejected, she sits down on a bench, certain that she'll never find what she needs.

And then a boy, who has been watching her from afar, sits down beside her and solemnly hands her a heart-shaped balloon.

"MAY I?" HE ASKS.

It's a perfect happy ending for Valentine's Day, in Connah Brecon's There's This Thing (Philomel Books, 2014), which tells readers that sometimes love just finds you. Brecon's illustration are delicate, with the focus on his main character, except for certain pages which offer hints for the reader of what his little character seeks. A quiet story that requires a bit of mulling over, this one is a different take on all the fuss over Valentine's Day.