In this charming translated work from Finland, an imaginative child makes a scrapbook of "lasts" instead of "firsts," inviting readers to reflect on what they hold onto and save.
Some people collect pens, shells, or stamps. Others collect friends, trips, or world records. This picture book shares one girl's unusual collection: a collection of lasts.
With a feel for the poignant, the bittersweet, and the odd, an observant, emotionally astute child shares the whimsical, eccentric, and touching lasts she has collected, from the last day cold enough for a wool cap, to the last anxious breath before a high dive, to the last person in her class to lose a tooth, to the last piece of chocolate, to the last words of a whole life.
Beautifully illustrated in pencil and watercolor, this is an exploration of lasts that might set something new in motion—or might bring finality. There are feelings of fear, sadness, contentment, longing, and happiness here, making for a wistful picture book in which a young girl's collection of last moments is depicted with a warm touch.
Odds and Ends is a collection of memories which invites open discussion of each reader's personal lasts.
Praise
STARRED REVIEW! ? “Hurme’s skillfully rendered art and thoughtful text capture the range of emotions children experience, while helping them reflect on their feelings and observations in new ways... Children will open this one again and again, smiling, thinking, soaking in the beauty, feeling respected and understood.”
—Kirkus Reviews
STARRED REVIEW! ? “[A] young narrator presents a literary volume of 'lasts' in Hurme’s affecting picture book… Evocative moments… include the mundane, the transformative, and the profound… The final collection offers a piercing portrait of the many ineffable moments that make up a life.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The book follows a girl who collects different 'lasts.' ... The tone is heartwarming, funny, and thoughtful. Just the right kind of SEL book to prompt conversations between teachers/students & parents/children on the lasts that they have had over their own lives. Think of it as an oddball memory book. This is about how kids look at the world and what they notice.”
—A Fuse #8 Production, Librarian Betsy Bird
