It means that we hope alongside our two storytellers, for the ‘ courage’ needed to build ‘tolerance‘. I first came across Gorman in one of John Krasinski's Somegoodnews video in which she performs a beautiful commencement poem for the graduating class of 2020 (which you can also watch here).

I began realizing who my audience is: little children who would actually be holding one of my books. In publishing Change Sings we celebrate the power of words to change the world, inspiring the next generation of readers with hope for a better future. We end as we began with our narrator on a white page, this time looking directly at us with an invitation to carry the song onwards and leaving the reader with a belief in collective action for positive change. I was at my last school for 4 years and we had ********* book fairs every term – and every term, I was disappointed by the narrow range of books.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. My favorite image, though, is the double-page spread in which the narrator is holding out a trumpet to a boy whose hands are covering his ears as though to block out the sounds or whatever he doesn't want to hear.

The alternation between intimate white-space vignettes and rainbow double-spread landscapes is also really nice. This is a lovely, hopeful book all about the power of people working together to bring about change in the world, and for that change to be for the better. This uplifting serenade will instill readers of any age with hope for the future and the initiative to improve it. Now we have the chance to connect Amanda’s poetic picture-book magic with families and children across the globe. Loren Long’s illustrations are beautifully rendered and very purposeful in their detail as he brings to life her stirring words.

As a young girl leads a cast of characters on a musical journey, they learn that they have the power to make changes – big or small – in the world, in their communities, and, most importantly, in themselves.

She talks about not just talking about where people come from, or how they arrived in the community, but also walking people’s differences to show that they have similarities too. From the first page, where we meet the young girl with her guitar, centre stage on a white page and she announces “I can hear change humming/ In its loudest, proudest song. In rich language and vivid art, this hopeful celebration of the life-affirming power of change to ripple out into a better future is irresistible.What’s more this change is within each of us, for we can choose to show love and be the person we want to be. Seeing as this is a picture book though, I decided to listen to the audiobook while reading along (which I highly recommend doing)!

But if we work together, listen to each other, understand each other, we may find we have more in common than we had thought. Ideas such as "I also walk our differences, / To show we are the same" (unpaged) are confusing to me since differences and similarities are not the same, and while there are commonalities among us, there are also clearly stark differences. Loren Long is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Otis series which is in development as an animated television series.

Now that I received my copy and took the time to read and carefully look at the illustrations, I’m even happier with my purchase. While not overt, there are very clear references that adult readers will recognise to the political situation in Gorman’s home country, the USA.