A Face Is a Poem

Look through the one-of-a-kind eyes of acclaimed author/illustrator Julie Morstad and explore the beauty, diversity and wonder of faces all around.

A face is a poem with all the parts put together, adding up to someone you love.



Have you ever stopped and looked, really looked, at a face? Do faces stay the same forever, or do they change? What if we could change faces to see through someone else's eyes? What if eyelashes were butterflylashes?

Julie Morstad guides readers through a playful and fantastical exploration of the unique eyes, noses, mouths, freckles, wrinkles, scars and all those one-of-a-kind marks that make up a face. Embracing commonalities and differences alike, A Face Is a Poem is an ode to the unique beauty of each and every person's appearance, with an empowering message of love.

JULIE MORSTAD is the author and illustrator of Today, How To and Time Is a Flower, which was a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book, winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize, and a finalist for a Governor General’s Literary Award, among other honors. She has illustrated many other beloved stories for children, including Kate DiCamillo’s The Puppets of Spelhorst. In 2018, she illustrated a stamp for Canada Post. Julie lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

ISBN: 9780735267565
Format: Hardback
Pages: 48
Publisher: Tundra
Published: September 24, 2024

"[B]lend[s] the real and the dreamlike. . . . [An] untethered session of wondering." —Publishers Weekly

"This poetic exploration unfolds in a loving and inventive way, inviting thoughtful appreciation and conversation. Vibrant depictions of flowers and butterflies add elegant texture, underlining the idea that faces are part of a larger, wondrous world." —Kirkus Reviews