Three Pieces of Broken Glass
A Picture Book
Emily Barth Isler author Vesper Stamper illustrator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Abrams
Publishing:14th May '26
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 14th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Evocative and soul-stirring, Three Pieces of Broken Glass—based on the personal history of author Emily Barth Isler and featuring incandescent illustrations by Vesper Stampe—explores how we must seek to find beauty and strength in even the darkest, most broken times.
Three pieces of broken glass sit on Grandma Inge’s windowsill.
Even though they are small, sharp, and jagged, the light shines through them, casting beautiful rainbows on the wall.
When Inge’s great-granddaughter asks why Inge has kept these shards, she learns decades-old stories from her great-grandmother’s life—from the joy of glass breaking at her wedding to harrowing reminders of smashed windows during Kristallnacht. And she comes to understand why we hold onto our memories both happy and sad.
From award-winning creators Emily Barth Isler and Vesper Stamper, this inspiring and moving story shows what it means to see the world in a hopeful light, even when it is broken.
***STARRED REVIEW***
“A beloved relative’s treasured artifacts convey events personal and historical in this meaningful telling from Barth Isler (The Color of Sound), making a picture book debut inspired by a family story, and Stamper (A Knot Is Not a Tangle).”
* Publishers Weekly ****STARRED REVIEW***
“Balancing soft washes of color for tender moments with images of glass cracking and shattering, Stamper’s lovely watercolor and gouache illustrations bring life and depth to the events and the pale-skinned characters…Sweet, heartfelt, and altogether wonderful.”
* Kirkus Review ****STARRED REVIEW***
“A beautiful blend of concrete objects and memory, of past and present.”
* Booklist *"[A] heartfelt . . .way of teaching children about culture and important historical moments…VERDICT Add to picture book collections to expand on Jewish culture and history through the prism of a warm, intergenerational afternoon.”
* School Library Journal *“This is a solid read-aloud to begin a discussion of Jewish history and family stories, or to remind clumsy kiddos that breaking something can be the beginning of a story rather than the end of the world.”
* The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s BooISBN: 9781419778728
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
40 pages