Picture book impact in action: we’ve been reading E. B. Goodale’s “Robin and the stick” the last few weeks, and after the freak snow storm last week we went on a neighborhood stroll to find all the branches that snapped. In the story, Robin tries for many days (“and many next days after that”) to get big enough to pick up a large branch. One day, he’s able to lift it and carry it inside.

Despite trying as hard as he could, Max couldn’t lift this very heavy branch. “Well maybe the next day and many next days after that I’ll be able to carry it, mom” he said, and my heart exploded.