You know those childhood vacations, the ones where in hindsight, everything seems perfect and wonderful? The epitome of all good in the world?
For Alice, the main character in Kevin Henkes’ new book Junonia, those vacations with her family are the highlight of her year. Everything is exactly as she left it the year before and she cherishes the sameness. Henkes’ words and illustrations tell the beautiful story of Alice Rice and her broadening horizons. Alice always looks forward to her trip to the beach in Florida. The same people arrive each year and are almost like a family.
This year, however, many of the regulars can’t make it, and Alice feels like the vacation is ruined. When her “Aunt” Kate arrives with her new boyfriend and his six-year-old daughter, who is adjusting to a few changes herself, Alice realizes that maybe her problems are worth putting aside to help out someone else.
As I was reading Kevin’s Henkes’ new chapter book, I kept asking myself “What is it about the sea that makes so may things clear?” I recently went on vacation with my family to a beach in Florida and I found myself thinking about this book and my past childhood vacations. I also looked for the elusive 
junonia shell, the shell that Alice searches for the entire time she is at the beach and the book’s namesake; needless to say, I didn’t find one.
What I did find was the same thing Henkes captures in his book–the clarity felt when you stand in the surf and look out at the expansive horizon. He paints as much description with his words as with ;his illustrations. And with the publication of Junonia, a child can grow all the way from board books to chapter books with Kevin Henkes’ work and I have to say, that’s not a bad thing at all; Junonia is a beautiful, pitch-perfect story.
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