Outside Amelia's Window by Caroline Nastro, illustrated by Anca Sandu Budisan

Opening with endpages covered with nature journaling about birds, this gentle and lovely picture book features a young girl learning to spread her wings.

The story opens with two children moving in next door as Amelia peers over the edge of her book. The girl has red hair in pigtails and wears pink overalls, the boy a riot of bright yellow curls that match his shirt, blue pants, and a red bicycle. Amelia is Asian with black hair and is accompanied by a pink dinosaur, matching the swirling pink blossoms overhead.

Amelia is comforted by her mother, sits and reads, and watches the children, while a wheelchair sits unused in the corner. There are hints that she has been ill and is recovering but it is only when a small bird takes a ribbon from her treasures and begins to weave a nest in the tree full of pink blossoms that Amelia begins to come out of her shell. The backgrounds of the pages begin to include the nature journal style of the endpages, with information about redstarts. As Amelia watches the growing family, reads about their long migration, and sees the chicks learn to fly, she stretches her own wings, venturing out of the house in her wheelchair to meet the children next door.

The story ends joyously, with Amelia "soaring" like the birds, playing with her new friends, and dreaming of the little birds on their long migration across the world.

The lovely watercolors show Amelia's quiet introspection and slow growth of courage as she eventually ventures outside. There are subtle hints of support for her, her mother's quiet embrace, letting Amelia move on her own timeline, and a ramp to a treehouse so she can be with her new friends when she finally ventures out. I'm very excited to see a hint that there will be a spin-off, Amelia's Nature Journal, featuring the redstart and other birds Amelia watches.

Verdict: A quiet story, but with stunning illustrations that will catch the imagination of listeners. While this is a bit lengthy and subtle for a toddler audience, preschoolers will be able to follow the sequence of events with some help and elementary school listeners will find it an inspiring story, encouraging them to try new things and observe the natural world around them. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781542027854; Published March 2023 by Two Lions; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library