Cordell, Matthew. 102 [alt title: One Hundred Two]. Matthew Cordell, Illus. Little, Brown, 04/2026. [48]pp. Picture Book. Trade $18.99. 978-0-3165-8095-3. GRADES Kindergarten–4. OUTSTANDING.
This mysterious picture book, illustrated entirely in crosshatching using “multicolored, multiscented ballpoint pens,” features a sandy-haired child named George, at home at 102 Greenbriar Drive, sick with a fever of 102, on 10/2, awakened at 1:02 am by a cricket, who shrinks him down to the size of a mouse. Although the only two human beings are George and his equally-light-skinned mother, alongside a varied cast of stereotypically objectionable insects and rodents, young readers are likely to find delight in the journey through the smallest hidden passages of the house, across the yard, and into the mouse family’s home. Tiny details that match George’s home to the mice’s, like a bear-shaped honey pot, a tiny framed Totoro, and of course the 102-bean soup, build connections that invite children to empathize with small creatures among us. The scratched, colored-ink appearance echoes the tiny feet of crickets and mice, and the slightly-flattened feeling of both the night’s moonshadow and the bright light of a hazy, dreamy dawn together create an alternate reality where this magic feels reasonable. There is a harmony of style and message, content and purpose, tiny details and circumspection, tension and resolution, and presentation and intended audience that raises this book to our highest rating of Outstanding, and is likely to be embraced by many readers.
Erica Siskind—Oakland Public Library