A Wonderful Secret

Mom and Dad are enjoying an afternoon picnic when Mom declares she has a secret requiring more time and space. After sharing her secret with Dad, the two mount their bicycle and embark on an adventure to secure these intangible items. Along the way, they encounter many whimsical characters, including Mr. Time who explains the precious nature of minutes, Ms. Earth who they appeal to for more land, and the Builder who helps them make a home. Mom and Dad appeal to each of these characters for help, sharing their secret and securing assistance. Once they have time and space to settle in, their secret is ready to be revealed – the missing piece of their life together — a baby.

The story follows a heteronormative couple as they build a life for their new baby, acquiring land, building a home, and waiting for their new arrival. Orsolini employs metaphors and abstract elements to introduce young readers to such concepts as time, creating a home, and expanding a family. Fortunately, the author also combines action into the narrative, a key element appropriate for young audiences who enjoy when real, identifiable things happen. Characters in this picture book build a house, paint walls, and ride a bike.

Although the publisher recommends this picture book for children ages 4-8, A Wonderful Secret is ideal for children on the older end of that range as they have the capacity to listen to longer stories with a narrative arc, and they are beginning to identify and learn concepts. Younger children may struggle to decode the longer text. Orsolini’s illustrations are vivid and engaging and will appeal to young readers of all ages. These illustrations serve to tell and extend the story so readers looking at Orsolini’s illustrations will decode reading through pictures while an adult reads the text.

Orsolini achieves a lot in this traditional story; she introduces young readers to several concepts, including time, humans’ relationship to nature, and family structures, through adult characters, and mystical elements. Orsolini’s first picture book consists of a happy and hopeful ending, the birth of a child, the culmination of the couple’s hard work.