When Things Aren't Going Right, Go Left

January 15, 2023
A simple strategy for lightening the weight of worries, doubts, fears, and frustrations. For all that Reynolds depicts a young child (brown-skinned, with Afro-textured hair) walking along a road shedding bags and other luggage in the simply drawn illustrations, Colagiovanni's allegorical wordplay seems addressed more to audiences that are old enough to see their lives in abstract terms. "One day, for no particular reason, nothing was going right. Absolutely, positively, NOTHING was going right. So...I decided to go left." The decision alone allows a box full of worries--depicted as small, red monsters--to be left behind...followed by a bag of hairy green doubts and, at the bottom of a high-diving platform, both a suitcase of jagged orange fears and a backpack of beaky yellow frustrations yelling, "You can't do it!" and "Give up already!" But after taking the plunge and suddenly realizing that going left eventually made everything go right, the narrator discovers that all the embodied bugaboos have shrunk so much that it's easy to take them up again. Though it wraps up a bit neatly, those grappling with their own anxieties may find Colagiovanni's words of wisdom useful. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A little easy-peasy but not bad advice. (Picture book. 6-11)

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April 24, 2023
Resilience and optimism win the day—and the long game—in an encouraging fable about finding one’s way. One gloomy, rainy day, when “Absolutely, positively, NOTHING was going right,” a young protagonist loaded down with baggage opts for a course correction, explaining: “So... I decided to go left.” The child first leaves behind a crate full of worries—fiery red gremlins who yell, “Where are you going?” Further down the line, the protagonist sheds a sack of bellowing green doubts and approaches a diving board that brings back memories of a
previous failed dive, where ditching more luggage eventually leads to exhilarating success. Heading home, the child’s gradually retrieved bags boast quieter contents that, Colagiovanni writes, “weren’t so hard to handle anymore.” Scenes rendered in Reynolds’s bold, loose lines introduce a protagonist with brown skin as well as a bird companion, who travel through pages with mottled backgrounds that moodily shift hue. It’s a straightforward take on managing emotions that’s just right for new grads. Ages 4–8.

May 1, 2023

K-Gr 3-Colagiovanni's affable journey will make children into orators: "When life's burdens start to feel too heavy... don't be afraid to put them down for a while." When nothing is going right for the main character, he decides to go left. Along the way he leaves behind his worries, doubts, fears, and frustrations. The more he leaves behind, the lighter and more confident he feels, taking on a high-dive challenge and finding that he can carry those old worries and doubts but he won't let them best him. Reynolds's iconic style features bold lines and clear images, all finished off in soft watercolors. The look of handwritten messages across the pages tells children just which words to emphasize and which ones to whisper, making this a perfect book for practicing read-aloud skills. VERDICT Although the message is simple, it's solid, and the collaborators give it appeal for all ages needing an inspiring story of strength, confidence, and perseverance.-Heidi Dechief

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