A white boy wakes every morning surrounded by the sounds of words (P for the pine tree outside, C for the crow perched on a branch, M for the fading moon) but can't say them ("The P in pine tree grows roots inside my mouth and tangles my tongue.") He stays quiet during breakfast, and hopes he won't have to talk in class, where other students can't see the sounds inside him; they only see the fear on his face, and hear the difference in his speech. After school his dad takes him for a walk along the river, where the quiet and companionship is comforting, but doesn't erase the day's pain. The father comparing his son's speech to the movement of the river's water gives the boy something to hold onto during distressing and lonely moments. "When the words around me are hard to say, I think of the proud river, bubbling, churning, whirling, and crashing." An excellent author's note relates his own experience with stuttering and owning his speech as "terrifyingly beautiful"-like a river. Stunning watercolor, ink, and gouache illustrations capture the child's emotional landscape framed in the beauty of the natural world. (Ages 4-8)

Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner

What if words got stuck in the back of your mouth whenever you tried to speak? What if they never came out the way you wanted them to?

Sometimes it takes a change of perspective to get the words flowing.

A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year

I wake up each morning with the sounds of words all around me.

And I can't say them all . . .

When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he'd like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. Compassionate parents everywhere will instantly recognize a father's ability to reconnect a child with the world around him.

Poet Jordan Scott writes movingly in this powerful and ultimately uplifting book, based on his own experience, and masterfully illustrated by Sydney Smith, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international distinction given to author and illustrators of children's books. A book for any child who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.

Finalist for the BC and Yukon Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book
An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book
ILA Primary Fiction Honoree
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Shelf Awareness, Bookpage, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Lunch, and more!
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Bank Street Best Childrens Book of the Year!
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
A CBC Best Picture Book of the Year
A Kids' Book Choice Award Finalist