This is a sweet little book and I enjoyed it, but I can see that it won't be for everyone. First, it's marketed as being for children, but I don't know that kids would really get it, or enjoy it- it feels more like an adult feel-good book to me. The text is kinda free verse-word salad-wait did I smoke something? hippie stuff, riffing on compound words and having fun with language, and I'm cool with that; if you're cool with that too, you'll enjoy this book. In the afterword, the author elucidates her love of compound words, calling them the smallest poems in the English language, and I really dug that. There are a couple of pages at the end where the reader is encouraged to make their own compound words, with a list of words to take apart and put back together. All in all, a fun book, more for the child inside the adult than for kids in my opinion.

#BeHold #NetGalley


p.s. I normally post reviews on bn.com, but they are having serious issues with their website right now, it tells me my review has been posted, but it doesn't show up :(

Kids will not care for this book. As an adult, I didn't care for this book. It really came across as hoity toity. The format would not hold a child's interest.

Be/Hold was a beautiful, intriguing book. I enjoyed the illustrations immensely, but am not sure young children will truly grasp them. The way the words flowed across the page made you feel as those you were part of the book. Incredibly wonderful!

This book is almost unbearably pretentious. As a book for adults, it's fine. They'll get it (maybe). But expecting kids to sit through roughly double the number of pages of a standard picture book, listen to the word salad, and gaze at the unappealing illustrations... well, it's a bit much to ask.

I appreciate that the author loves compound words. Unfortunately, telling kids to make up what is essentially their own language when they're just learning language is a recipe for problems. (And I wish the author had done a little more research about her favourite word. Its origins have little to do with the "deep" meaning she thinks they do.)

There are so many lines that have me scratching my head. Some of the compound words make a sort of weird sense (if you understand their building blocks). Others are just... weird:

Your voice is a nightjar, spilling.

What does that even mean? Or how about this:

So why not invite someone
into your neighbourhood?

That someone could be a slowpoke,
a daddy longlegs, or a sunset.

Even a downpour, a nightmare, or
an ice cream's melt.

Basically, this obliterates the meaning of the word "someone" and could potentially confuse those just learning the language.

To make matters worse, there are a couple of pages at the back that invite kids to make up their own compound words. This makes it seem more like a non-fiction title. (Books like this reinforce the attitude that learning the rules of language is unimportant. Really, though, you should understand the rules before you go and break them.)

So, in essence, this book really misses the mark... at least for its intended audience. Adults might enjoy this... but I can't see this being a favourite of any kid. I have a feeling that, if I'd encountered this book as a child, I would've skimmed it and put it right back on the shelf. To be perfectly honest, I'd probably do the same thing now, if I weren't reading it for review.