Facing Fear

8/17/2017

Come With Me by Holly M.McGhee ill Pascal Lamaître

Holly M. McGhee has a way of revealing the heart of a story and connecting its essence with her audience. Come With Me is a picture book with a straightforward message that resonates with readers young and old: sometimes the world can be a scary place. When confronted with frightening news reports, one little girl feels powerless. Her parents respond with the gentle invitation "Come With Me.”
Each adult finds a way to introduce this child to her world and to help her to see the kindness, courage, and bravery that can be found in quiet everyday acts of understanding, respect, and courtesy.
McGhee chooses to set the story in a bustling metropolitan city. I love this. I love the premise that peace and a sense security can be found anywhere. Even, or perhaps especially, kindness can be discovered in a big city.
Thank you Holly and Pascal for this gift to children, families and communities. it's a gentle and comforting reassurance nestled within the warm embrace of two covers.

Come With Me: New York City

Several years ago I worked at a school in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I loved that neighborhood, filled with mamas and papas walking their little ones to school. I loved the rich diversity of cultures. I loved the strong family ethic. This is a community of people who live and work together. I loved the feeling of neighborhood and connection that I experienced whenever I stepped off the F Train at Delancey and Essex Streets.

My memories of that place awakened in me a sense of nostalgia as I savored McGhee's simple text and Lamaître muted color palette. It's a story filled with warmth and compassion. Each page provides plenty of white space, allowing time to appreciate the softly rendered drawings. While my time in the Lower East Side enriched my appreciation for the story, this picture book also rekindled memories of my time with that community. I compared photos of New York City life with Lamaître's illustrations. Each representation, regardless of the medium, portrays a strong sense of home, community, and interconnection.

"The girl and her papa were brave and kind, and that day they won a tiny battle over fear"

"They rode the train through the tunnels underground"

"They went to their grocery to buy some things for dinner -"

"One step at a time, they understood what they could do to make the world a better place. They could go on."

Come With Me: South Texas Coast

Now I live on the coast in South Texas, an environment that is both different and the same when compared to the neighborhoods I knew in Manhattan. The temperatures and coastal waters are much warmer. There are many more open and undeveloped land areas as well as some very distinctive types of vegetation. But in both New York and South Texas I can experience everyday encounters with kindness and courage.

No matter where children live, adults can find ways to help them feel safe and secure. A follow-up activity for this book could be to create a personal version of Come With Me. Using photographs and/or simple drawings, children can create a journal of images depicting moments when they have experienced insight and understanding.
A Come With Me journal may not only invite a child to take the next step, but may serve as an invitation for other youngsters to join in.