By Charlotte Sullivan Wild
A shy girl spends the weeks before Valentine's Day working up the nerve to make a card for the girl she likes.
Violet has a crush on a girl in her class named Mira, the one who laughs the loudest and gallops around like a horse at recess. Around Mira, Violet goes shy and tongue-tied. She wants Mira to know how she feels, so she decides to make her a valentine. But every card comes out wrong, and her nerve keeps failing her. It takes the whole run-up to Valentine's Day before she finally gets the card into Mira's hands. Then the two of them gallop off into a game together.
It catches the feeling of a first crush at a size that makes sense to a young child: the fluttery stomach, the wanting to say something and not daring to. Underneath, it's a story about being brave enough to show someone you like them. Violet's crush being on a girl is just part of the story; nobody explains it or turns it into a lesson. Charlene Chua's bright, tender illustrations do a lot of the work, and you can read Violet's nervous hope right on her face.