SYLVESTER’S LETTER

By Matthew Burgess * Pictures by Josh Cochran

Enchanted Lion Books * August 2023 * AVAILABLE

ISBN: 978-1-59270-380-7 * 10.76” (W) x 9.65” (H) • 52 Pages • HC

“The prose is spare yet poignant, deftly crafting a picture of all the little ways G.G. was special to Sylvester, from her expertise at imitating a dove’s cry to the particular way she would enjoy a slice of cake “a la mode.” Vivid illustrations rendered in bold marker strokes capture the story’s varied moods, including a brightly colored gatefold that opens to an exuberant, marvelously detailed depiction of Sylvester’s grand ideas, followed by pages in somber shades after Sylvester realizes his plans won’t work. This poignant journey through grief resolves on an uplifting note as Sylvester receives a sign that his message got through after all, and he decides to pursue a new skill to honor G.G.’s legacy. Simultaneously comforting and heartbreaking, this is a beautiful ode to imagination, determination, and the uniquely precious relationship between a grandparent and grandchild.” – ★ School Library Journal (Starred Review)

“Poet Burgess and artist Cochran—the team that produced Drawing on Walls (2020)—expertly capture an imaginative child’s perspective and logic with lovely, alliterative language and wordless spreads rendered in brilliant colors and markerlike scrawls. A marvelous double gatefold portrays the entire journey. Other ways of connecting include eating lunchtime pickles and learning to pickle—since G.G. (Greatest Grandma) was the “most pickle-loving person I know”—and a miraculous moment when a butterfly lands on Sylvester’s nose. A nuanced celebration of the lasting joy that intergenerational friendship inspires.” –★ Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“In ‘Sylvester’s Letter,’ writer Matthew Burgess and illustrator Josh Cochran use buoyant language and joyful colors to show a young boy’s love for his dead grandmother and his determination to get a letter delivered to her. Any parent who has ever had a child rush up to explain the minutiae of, say, a newly built Lego spaceship will recognize the tremendous excitement, the wild imaginativeness, of the boy as he explains how he will dispatch his letter via a team of skydivers (first making them breakfast “so they’re energized when I high-five them onto the plane”). The divers will deploy their parachutes and land on a train that’s whizzing toward a jungle, where “a river packed with piranhas” will carry the letter to a place where butterflies and pink dolphins congregate, and, and!—as two pages open out in a gatefold, the whole extravagant vision bursts into view. But of course there is no getting a real letter through, though it is also true, as we subsequently see in the text of the letter, that love has no difficulty in outlasting life.” –Wall Street Journal

“Some letters can’t be delivered in the usual way,” Sylvester informs us. So he enlists sky divers to land on top of a train headed to a jungle where a river packed with piranhas will carry his letter to a place where pink dolphins wait. From there, a messenger will pass it to a swarm of butterflies that will carry it “up, up, up … ” to Sylvester’s grandma. “Dear G.G.,” the letter begins, “I miss you every day. I always think of you when Mom puts a pickle on my plate — you being the most pickle-loving person I know.” We don’t need to be told the fate of Sylvester’s missive. On the last page he’s making his own pickles.” –New York Times

“Loss fuels a creative contemplation of love in this imaginative story of memoriam from the creators of Drawing on Walls… Merging fantasy and reality, the creators pay tribute to the way Sylvester’s love helps to process longing and sorrow.” –Publisher’s Weekly