In a Jar by Deborah Marcero

Stunning - Kirkus

Two rabbits sitting in a field of bluebells. They each have a jar and have collected a couple of bluebell stems.

The end papers show leaves scattering in the wind but the simple addition of colour to these pages also shows the passing of time as the leaves change from bright green, to yellow, to dark orange and olive green and back to bright green.

Now turn to the first page and you can see these same autumn leaves scattered across the page. If you flip to the final page it is Autumn once again - so a whole year has passed.

Llewellyn loves collecting things. He collects things and puts them in jars. He collects beautiful and poetic things such as heart-shaped stones, the sky "the color of tart cherry syrup", and the "wind just before snow falls" . When Llewellyn looks back at each of his jars he can enjoy the memories they hold. As with all the best things in life, the joy of collecting is even better when shared. Llewellyn shares his jars with Evelyn and together they collect wondrous things but one day Evelyn tells Llewellyn she is moving away.

"With Evelyn gone, Llewllyn's heart felt like an empty jar."

This is not the end of the story. There is a solution to this problem. Llewllyn decides to post a jar to Evelyn. He fills it with a meteor shower on a moonless night. In return Evelyn fills jars with the sights, sounds and smells of her new city environment and she posts her parcel to Llewllyn. Once again, though, this is not the end of the story.  I hope the last page makes you sigh with happiness. You can listen to Deborah talking about her book on The Children's Book Podcast.

The two bunnies, with their rectangular, anthropomorphized shapes and straight antennae ears, are cozy yet also endearingly offbeat. Bulletin of the Centre for Children’s Books

In a surreal touch, the jars themselves become frames containing rainbows, cups of hot chocolate, lightning strikes, a family of ducks, ski slopes and the tight squeeze of a subway car. Enchanting, indeed.  In a Jar does what all the best picture books do: It captivates, entertains and leaves you with a reminder of magic still shimmering around the edges. Book Page

The art here is tremendously gorgeous. Marcero creates pages of meteor showers, sunsets filled with birds soaring, and entire seasons on two pages that are filled with moments of wonder and amazement, and yet that are also moments we could all have and share. Waking Brain Cells

If you read this book with a young child you are sure to want to grab some jars and go outside and begin collecting.  You can see this idea in action at This Picture Book Life.  I love the idea of collecting things - especially the idea of collecting things in jars.

I talked about collectors and collecting in one of my most favourite picture books A friend like Ed and in the junior novel - Donovan's word jar.

For a younger child try to find a copy of the Australian book Collecting Sunshine by Rachel Flynn illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie (2018).

Here is another book by Deborah Marcero.