It Takes All Kinds: Most People by Michael Leannah

MOST PEOPLE LOVE TO SMILE.

MOST PEOPLE LOVE TO SEE OTHER PEOPLE SMILE AND LAUGH, TOO.

MOST PEOPLE ARE GOOD PEOPLE.

It takes all kinds to make a world. People don't always look the same, or dress the same, or act the same. Some people are boisterous, walking down the street with a group, all talking and laughing at the same time. Some people are reserved, quietly sitting on a bench alone or feeding a baby or walking a dog.

There are plenty of differences in Michael Leannah's Most People (Tibury House Publishing, 2017). Artist Jenifer Morris portrays all those visible differences in size and shape and color and dress and subtly suggests other differences between individuals. But there are also similarities.

MOST PEOPLE WANT TO HELP WHEN THE SEE PEOPLE IN TROUBLE.

A burly tattooed man helps an elderly lady go ahead of him, up into a bus. A man stops to help a girl who has fallen off a bike.

SOME PEOPLE DO BAD THINGS. THEY YELL BAD WORDS.

But the good people outnumber the bad, and most people respond by trying to help, in Leannah's little essay on human nature. Morris' illustrations feature realistically but charmingly rendered backgrounds, a cityscape and landscape where kids and dogs play, with gently colorful cartooning that celebrates humanity in all its many faces.

Says Michael Palaccio, author of the best-seller Wonder in the New York Times Review, "...perfectly pitched for its young audience, who will enjoy piecing together the story-within-a-story of the two main characters as they illustrate the messages of the text within the context of their own lives, “Most People” works especially well because it doesn’t just tell children to “be” good. It shows them how to “do” good."