Small Things Mended

January 29, 2024
Though his backstory is left unspecified, apparently middle-aged Cecil lives alone with a dog and framed images of an absent loved one. When he adjusts a broken pocket watch for young neighbor Lily, he begins to recall how satisfying he finds fixing things, and soon makes a sign: “Cecil’s Repair Shop/ Small Things Mended.” After a child named Eleanor brings him Daisy, a stuffed elephant that’s missing a button eye, Cecil says, “He needs his eye fixed.... I know something about that” while pointing to himself. But Eleanor says that Daisy has a broken heart, and Cecil soon forms an emotional bond with the animal, which sits at his table and reminds him of the “warm feeling” that guests bring. Before long, Cecil renews his garden in order to invite neighbors to share its bounty. “A broken heart needs friends,” Cecil tells Eleanor in this heartwarming story, in which Robinson’s straightforward narration and Whitesides’s softly tinted, painting-like spreads underscore the role of community in healing. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8.

February 1, 2024
As a man rediscovers the joy of fixing broken objects, he also finds new friendships to mend his own broken heart. In the middle of a cartwheel, Lily's watch flies out of her pocket and lands, broken, in her neighbor's driveway. Then, her kind neighbor Cecil offers his help. When he later presents the mended watch to Lily, she receives it with enthusiastic gratitude. Soon, word spreads about Cecil's skill at restoring life to the "trinkets and treasures, doodads and thingamajigs" cherished by his community. One day, a girl brings Cecil a stuffed elephant with a particularly tricky ailment: a broken heart. Cecil tries everything but is stumped. How do you fix a broken heart? Whitesides' soft, cozy illustrations capture Cecil's detailed restoration work but also hint at a life shared with a beloved spouse, now gone. Robinson's gentle prose guides readers along Cecil's healing journey. While the text doesn't explicitly discuss Cecil's loss, this tender story will still resonate with young readers processing grief of their own. Cecil has tan skin, black hair, and an ocular disability, while Lily is light-skinned and red-haired. His neighbors are diverse in skin tone and physical ability; some residents use wheelchairs and leg braces. A sweet story about the fixes made possible by generosity and community. (Picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from May 24, 2024

K-Gr 3-This is a soft and gentle book sharing the importance of community and friendship in healing a broken heart. The story begins with Cecil, an elderly man with a "good eye," who hears the laughter of his young neighbor, Lily. When a cartwheel causes Lily's watch to break, Cecil promises he will try to fix it to make her smile again. When he is successful, news quickly spreads just as Cecil also remembers how much he enjoyed fixing things. In the end, a pink elephant with a broken heart helps Cecil unlock his own path to happiness. There is much a young reader might miss in this nuanced tale. The story doesn't explicitly say that Cecil is sad and lonely, but Whitesides's translucent watercolors show framed photos of a spouse no longer there. VERDICT While on the surface this appears to be a quiet and muted narrative, it can spark lengthy discussions about the importance of community, the beauty of fixing things rather than discarding them, and the path to healing after immeasurable loss.-Heidi Dechief

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