Over the Shop

This wordless picture book depicts a young girl and her grandmother who live behind the general store they operate as they attempt to rent out the dilapidated apartment above. A series of prospective tenants visits, but all are turned off by the boarded-up windows, broken tiles, cracked enamel, and general dirt. Finally, one day a mixed-race couple show up and insist on renting the place despite its flaws. The grandmother is skeptical but reluctantly agrees to rent it to them because of her granddaughter’s pleading and the couple’s warmth and charm. With the help of the girl, the couple slowly transform the apartment into a home, complete with flower boxes and a patio set on the formerly dingy balcony. The couple then start to help in the store, and the book ends with the entire group, plus their nosy neighbour, gathering on the balcony as the couple share a kiss.

Over the Shop is a charming book, full of details and just enough subtlety to make it both a puzzle to solve and a deep exploration of modern social mores and urban life. While it is never explicit, the couple are decidedly part of the LGBTQ+ community; while one appears female, the other’s gender is unclear. Whether the couple are same-sex or of nonbinary gender seems besides the point, but the grandmother’s reluctance seems related to her inability to figure out the gender roles involved. (Besides the unclear gender of one of the people, the only other clues to the LGBTQ+ connection are the author’s dedication of the book to “trans activists of all ages” and the rainbow accessories the two occasionally wear).

As a wordless book, this entire rich story is told in a series of sketch and watercolour illustrations in what is reminiscent of a British style, akin to the pictures of Tony Ross. Because of their imprecision, finding the small details that help clarify the story takes patience and conversation, the kind that would take place between children and either their teachers or caregivers. The grandmother’s facial expressions slowly change from crabby to relatively happy; the turned-off renters show signs of disgust after seeing the mess; the young girl appears sunny and determined to make the group a family. The reluctance of the grandmother to rent to the couple is illustrated both in her sideways glances and in her quick removal of the “apartment for rent” sign from the shop’s window.

Two side stories make the book even richer. One depicts the girl’s attempts to feed a stray cat chased from the store by her grandmother, ending in gradual acceptance of the animal and what seems like adoption by the couple. The other, easier to miss, shows a nosy neighbour sitting on the porch next door reading, taken aback by the couple moving in, but later joining them on the balcony for the evening patio party. In a final detail, the name of the store (the only other words in the book besides the “apartment for rent” sign) is changed from Lowell’s General Store to Lowell and Friends General Store.

With its idealized portrayal of a traditional urban storefront neighbourhood transformed into a community of acceptance and close connections, Over the Shop is at once a balm for our times and a timeless tale that kids will love to help tell.