Vanilla Ice Cream

A young sparrow forages for food, following whatever source he finds for nourishment. His quest leads him to a bag of rice, and then to a barge carrying many bags of rice across the ocean. When the barge with its cargo of rice deposits its load—and the sparrow—in a new world, the sparrow flies off, its search for food as driving as ever. At a garden café, where a baby named Edie Irvine and her grandparents have stopped for a snack, he finds some tantalizing crumbs on an outdoor table. The barking of the Irvines’ dog scares him away, and as the dog leaps in an unsuccessful attack, Edie’s grandmother’s ice cream cone flies through the air—straight into Edie’s lap. Because of the sparrow, Edie gets her very first taste of vanilla ice cream.

The beauty of this book isn’t its story per se but the larger truths it illuminates: the effect all creatures have on one another, and the transformative power even the smallest animal can have on human life. Graham’s lovely watercolor illustrations and sparse text convey with quiet conviction the interconnectedness of us all.