Things to Look Forward To

“Things to Look Forward To serves as a kind of guide to living on a planet that is, at once, filled with pain and pleasure…. Blackall’s own story unfolds over the course of the book, as each item on her list offers a graceful invitation to pay attention to the small moments that make a life.” –Cup of Jo

“A full moon, a new word, coffee … children’s book illustrator Blackall shares some of her favorite small pleasures, reminding grown-ups there’s always something good ahead.” –People

“Infused with whimsy and hope, each page serves as a heartening reminder that even the smallest moments can be rewarding. This is the perfect pick-me-up.”–Publishers Weekly

“What makes the book so wondrous is that each seemingly mundane thing on the list shimmers with an aspect of the miraculous, each fragment of the personal opens into the universal, each playful wink at life grows wide-eyed with poignancy.” –The Marginalian

“You can’t page through this book without feeling a renewed sense of appreciation for the everyday.” –BookPage

Sophie Blackall is an Australian illustrator based in New York. Blackall has illustrated more than forty children’s books, including FINDING WINNIE, for which she won the 2016 Randolph Caldecott Medal, and HELLO LIGHTHOUSE, which won the Caldecott Medal in 2019. She is the illustrator of the long-running IVY & BEAN series of early reader chapter books, and the author of the picture book IF YOU COME TO EARTH.