Review - Be/Hold: A Friendship Book

Be/Hold: A Friendship Book
by Shira Erlichman
Date: 2019
Publisher: Penny Candy Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 68
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

In Be/Hold: A Friendship Book visual artist, poet, and musician Shira Erlichman opens with the line, "Sweetheart, sometimes when I'm feeling blue I put my ear to the wind & listen for you," building a one-of-a-kind story of friendship from her love of compound words (i.e. toothbrush, windbreaker, behold) in a book that uplifts, encourages, and honors the people we care about most.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book is almost unbearably pretentious. As a book for adults, it's fine. They'll get it (maybe). But expecting kids to sit through roughly double the number of pages of a standard picture book, listen to the word salad, and gaze at the unappealing illustrations... well, it's a bit much to ask.

I appreciate that the author loves compound words. Unfortunately, telling kids to make up what is essentially their own language when they're just learning language is a recipe for problems. (And I wish the author had done a little more research about her favourite word. Its origins have little to do with the "deep" meaning she thinks they do.)

There are so many lines that have me scratching my head. Some of the compound words make a sort of weird sense (if you understand their building blocks). Others are just... weird:

Your voice is a nightjar, spilling.

What does that even mean? Or how about this:

So why not invite someone
into your neighbourhood?

That someone could be a slowpoke,
a daddy longlegs, or a sunset.

Even a downpour, a nightmare, or
an ice cream's melt.

Basically, this obliterates the meaning of the word "someone" and could potentially confuse those just learning the language.

To make matters worse, there are a couple of pages at the back that invite kids to make up their own compound words. This makes it seem more like a non-fiction title. (Books like this reinforce the attitude that learning the rules of language is unimportant. Really, though, you should understand the rules before you go and break them.)

So, in essence, this book really misses the mark... at least for its intended audience. Adults might enjoy this... but I can't see this being a favourite of any kid. I have a feeling that, if I'd encountered this book as a child, I would've skimmed it and put it right back on the shelf. To be perfectly honest, I'd probably do the same thing now, if I weren't reading it for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penny Candy Books for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5