Age range 4+

Crescendo is a visual and poetic celebration of the transition to motherhood, featuring 47 gorgeous watercolour illustrations from Alessandro Sanna (The River, Pinocchio: An Origin Story) and a corresponding poem by Paola Quintavalle. Sanna’s illustrations follow the transformation of a mother’s shape throughout her pregnancy, artfully and gracefully delineated not only by images of a mother’s profile, but by rich, sweeping scenes from nature: the curved wingspan of a seagull in flight, the arc of a whale’s tail as she swims with her calves, the peaks of verdant, moonlit hills, among others. At last, there is an image of a mother embracing her newborn child, at once lilting and reverent - a vision of joy and rest at the culmination of an incredible inward journey. Quintavalle’s poem, written as a response to Sanna’s illustrations, weaves delicately throughout the book. An ode to mothers everywhere, Crescendo is a book to share and to treasure.