Fresh starts for a new year

Love stories are not easy, and they don’t get any easier when written for children. The recipe for such tales resembles something like baking: requiring sweetness, lightness, a touch of flavor, and a sense of humor. Peter McCarty’s “Henry in Love’’ succeeds on all fronts, making it a perfect Valentine’s Day read and a fine picture book about love and friendship the rest of the year.

The relationship between Henry and his classmate Chloe begins slowly and delicately. Henry’s a fast runner, so is Chloe. Henry shows off his best somersault; Chloe executes “a perfect cartwheel. Henry was impressed.” In fact, “[h]e thought she was the loveliest girl in his class.” All day long Henry has been hanging onto his special snack from home - a fresh blueberry muffin of the deepest, richest blue. When his seat is moved next to Chloe his love is put to the test. Will he trade that miraculous blue muffin for Chloe’s carrot?

McCarty’s “Hondo & Fabian” was a 2003 Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book. It’s easy to see why. McCarty uses the blank spaces of his cream-colored pages with assured artistry, allowing time to pause or stop completely, allowing silence to speak as clearly as words or pictures. These open spaces frame each image, as if cherishing each moment: eating a sandwich; calling at a friend’s door; heading downstairs to the kitchen; playing tag on the playground.

“Henry in Love’’ affects the reader like a fine Japanese print. McCarty utilizes rich, simple colors - deep blue, rosy reds. He provides a marvelous blend of the mundane (Henry using the toilet, “getting ready for the day”); the dream-like (Henry’s crush, Chloe, is perpetually surrounded by flower petals,) and the ornate: playground trees rendered with hundreds of tiny drawn leaves.