The Knowing

by Ani DiFranco (Author) Julia Mathew (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

From the Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, political activist, and feminist icon comes a picture book with purpose, with heart, and with words that sing.

Singer-songwriter, activist, feminist, and best-selling author Ani Di Franco has written something for her youngest audience: a picture book that invites young readers to ponder the distinction between outer forms of identity and the inner light of consciousness that is even more central to our being. In her signature folk style, Di Franco weaves a story that incorporates themes of individual power and collective responsibility. First-time illustrator Julia Mathew paints universal scenes of childhood in her family's native India, glowing with honesty and love. Designed to be read aloud or sung, and pored over, this picture book is rich with meaningful text, poignant illustrations, and a unique message that will resonate with all.

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Hardcover
$18.99

Kirkus

The interconnectedness of humanity shines throughout this affirming picture book from singer/songwriter DiFranco....A sweet, lyrical book perfect for bedtime sharing.

Publishers Weekly

DiFranco's debut picture book offers up a rhyming reverie on selfhood and collective consciousness framed as "The Knowing." Loosely wrought watercolor, colored pencil, and charcoal pictures by Mathew, also making her debut, show a young narrator, who reads as of South Asian heritage, enjoying the simple pleasures of daily life: a hair-braiding session with a loving adult, time with a book under a favorite weathered blanket, and playtime with friends. But when the narrator catches a glimpse of themself in a mirror or in water, their reflection is shown surrounded by rays of light, suggesting that something bigger and more wonderful lies beneath the surface. Beyond that which can be seen or easily experienced (e.g., the "color/ to my hair/ my skin/ my eyes") is something that exists "underneath all that I know," and as the child engages in everyday activities--gazing into the sky, plucking a ripe mango--they contemplate that concept as being at one with a unifying force. Some readers may find more enigma than inspiration in this heady, feelings-oriented text, but its conceit is presented with an genuine openheartedness that should both intrigue and reassure. Ages 3-5. Author's agent: Sarah Lazin, Aevitas Creative Management. Illustrator's agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. (Mar.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

A book that is well worth revisiting, with a comforting tone to the whole project that speaks to love and connection, with others and with your own personhood in the world. -The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Ani DiFranco
Ani Di Franco is a Grammy-winning musical artist and feminist icon recognized for her poetry and songwriting, which pierces social convention and challenges the status quo, as well as for her social activism and political engagement. One of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990, she has sold over 5.5 million albums through her own Righteous Babe Records, and recently released her twenty-second studio album. While she has been known as the "Little Folksinger," her music has embraced many genres and collaborators ranging from Pete Seeger to Maceo Parker to Chuck D to Prince. She lives in New Orleans with her family.

Julia Mathew is a designer and artist based in Toronto. She specializes in bringing creative strategy and mixed media together in her work. Julia first started drawing at a young age, using mediums such as phone books and bedroom walls to express herself artistically, driving her immigrant apartment-renting parents mad. She has since evolved and has found a passion in bringing marginalized voices to the forefront of her work. Julia's work touches on subjects of diaspora culture, love, identity politics, and cultural imposter syndrome - exploring complex identities through unconventional and experimental mixed media.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593383759
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Rise X Penguin Workshop
Publication date
March 07, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV009050 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Senses & Sensation
Library of Congress categories
-

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