Small Things Mended

The healing power of community is tenderly expressed in this picture book for fans of A Sick Day for Amos McGhee and Last Stop on Market Street.

Kindly Cecil has a broken heart, but when the kids in his neighborhood start asking him to fix their valuables—a music box, a watch, a stuffed elephant—he gradually finds that he knows just how to do this mending. And in return, his circle of new friends offers the mending that his own heart needs.

This gentle, kindhearted story brings the generations of a community together to sustain and enrich one another, and it beautifully showcases the value of fixing things―and loving their history―rather than quickly discarding them.

Casey W. Robinson grew up in Maine and used to keep a shoe box of favorite words and phrases under her bed. She now lives with her family just west of Boston, in a house overflowing with books. When she’s not writing, Casey is managing book events for her local independent bookstore. Her debut picture book, Iver & Ellsworth, was a Crystal Kite Award Finalist.

Nancy Whitesides is an author and self-taught illustrator born and raised in the Philippines and now based in California. Her picture book debut, Grief Is an Elephant by Tamara Ellis Smith, will be published in 2023. When Nancy isn’t creating, she loves taking bike rides (and balancing too many groceries on the handlebars).