When You Grow Up! What Will You Be? by Yamile Saied Mendez

"WHAT WILL YOU BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?"

"IT'S NEVER TOO SOON TO DREAM...." SAYS THE GIRL'S ABUELA.

"BUT I DON'T HAVE TO THINK MUCH!!" THE GIRL REPLIES.

She quickly spins out a string of popular preschool wishes--a unicorn, a clown, an astronaut!

But her friends are more practical and ask what possible choices she might really make. Abuela responds that she still doesn't know what she's going to be when she "grows up," and pointing her dripping paintbrush at her granddaughter, pointedly tells the girl that she is the only one who can choose. There are so many things she likes--building and making, so many dreams and stories to tell and draw.

"I'M A WARRIOR WITH MY PEN AND BRUSH!"

She can trace the footsteps of her ancestors. She can follow the untrodden trails that lie before her. She can be a grower of apples, a healer, or a speaker for justice, in Yamile Saied Mendez' latest What Will You Be? (HarperCollins, 2021). It's "Que' sera', sera'," or it's what you yourself make of life for this little girl. Artist Kate Alizadeh's charming little "Dora the Explorer" character stands in for all children who wonder and explore what lies before them in that period of childhood where anything seems possible.