“To my nieces and nephews, who need a better story — BL
For Kai — MG” 
                -Brittany Luby and Michaela Goade author dedications in their children’s book Encounter

                Encounter’s pages have lots of creatures in them. Seagulls. A mouse. A mosquito. Deer. A crab. Beluga whales. Wasps. A sign of a spider. In a way I suppose that’s true for lots of children’s books, but this one struck me with its shifting, expansive perspective. 
                Building on historical notes from 1534, Encounter imagines “an open and friendly meeting between a French sailor and a Stadaconan fisher” in what is now known as North America. The picture inside the front cover shows a beautiful sunrise seaside, and the view’s closer to a nesting seagull’s view than a person’s. In the middle of the story we spend time with both the French sailor and Stadaconan fisher (shifting between being closer to one, then the other, then close to both). When the animals speak up, Goade’s art puts us close to them. We look down with a seagull toward these two people on the beach. We retreat with a mosquito back into the leaves. When a mouse celebrates some crumbs left behind, we’re down in the grass, the people small shadows on our horizon.
                I love the gentle, generous way Encounter’s paintings bring us from sky  to grass to bushes and back to these humans’ hands. I’m writing this in my brother’s backyard. Three bunnies in view. They seem more interested in the green of the grass than the green of the page, but looking up from the book, I wonder, what do those tall ears make of my typing?