Book Preview: Doing Something New

(I received a review copy of this book through Net Galley. It's been discouraging for me and for many writers when picture books, graphic books, and art books either didn't come through my e-mail, or came through missing the illustrations that really make these books. I'm delighted to report that Net Galley's new E-Reader showed all the pictures in this picture book, in full color and charm. As regular readers know, review copies are often sent to reviewers  by publishers before books are available in stores, so that bookstores can launch new books by displaying reviews as soon as the books arrive. Doing Something New should be available in stores on Tuesday. If you want a Christian picture book for a primary school or even kindergarten child, perhaps one who seems apprehensive about starting school this fall, go ahead and order it now; it's that good.)

Title: Doing Something New

Author: Mitali Perkins

Illustrator: Andres Landazabal

Date: August 11, 2026

Publisher: InterVarsity

ISBN: 978-1-5140-1332-8 

Quote: "Jesus, now I come to you, at the start of something new."

This is a rhymed prayer for primary school children. The words are applicable to many situations. The pictures make it clear that it's about a brother and sister, probably of north Indian descent, starting a new school year. For the sister, who seems older, it may be a different school; for the brother what's new might be going to school at all. They face unnerving situations--being chosen for a team before a game, meeting a classmate whose eyes seem unfocussed (the brother), meeting a classmate who just doesn't want to be friendly at all (the sister), worrying that people will think they're odd if they say grace before meals. They ask Jesus to help them be bold, fair, and kind.

The pictures are excellent--lifelike, with readable "feelings," showing a diverse contemporary crowd at school and a first-century Judean setting in their memories of the life of Jesus. The Beatitudes are printed in some of the pictures.

One thing that jarred, on first reading, was an odd phrasing: "Help me be a bit as bold." In the US and UK we say that someone is "not a bit as..." (whatever) as someone or something else. Flipping this phrase into a positive sentence seems odd and foreign. (Perkins' afterword mentions a family of Bengali descent who lived in many places around the world.) This could become an illustration of the kind of behavior the characters model in the book. People in countries where other languages were traditionally spoken sometimes adopt English as an international language; sometimes they speak it in novel, unanticipated ways. Sometimes someone whose first language is not English uses words in ways that are clearly "wrong," like Andrei Codrescu's "buy this bus" when he meant "pay to ride this bus," and sometimes whole communities who have adopted English use words in ways that may be new, but make sense and may even have something to teach us. "Help me be a bit as bold" is worth sitting with for a few minutes. I can understand why the publisher allowed it.

Recommended to all Christian families, this book would make a nice gift to a family or a small church school where other needs may outweigh the need for shiny new picture books.