By her own admission, Brooklyn-based author and illustrator Sophie Blackall is an optimist, someone who is able to see the silver lining in just about any cloud. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and even the most glass-half-full among us felt the strain. “When things seemed especially grim, I began posting a list of Things to Look Forward To on Instagram, because I needed cheering up and I wanted to feel less hopeless,” Blackall recalls. Her followers, in turn, posted their own lists. “People baked muffins and delivered them to neighbors and first responders. They told me about things they had learned and things they wanted to learn. We were doing things, even as we were looking forward to them.”
You might recognize Blackall’s illustrations from her numerous picture books and early readers, notably the Ivy & Bean series. She has won two Caldecott Medals, an annual distinction for children’s book illustrators, once in 2016 for Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear and again in 2019 for Hello Lighthouse. Perhaps you gazed at her work without even knowing it during your subway commute back in 2011, when her piece “Missed Connections” was included in the MTA’s Arts for Transit program. Her latest project, Things to Look Forward To: 52 Large and Small Joys for Today and Every Day, evolved out of her pandemic posts and is due out this spring from Chronicle Books.
The things Blackall looks forward to are wide-ranging, from simple pleasures like spotting a rainbow or a flock of birds to activities like learning a new word or mending a hole. Each page of the book reminds readers that no matter how dark the world seems at times, there’s always tomorrow. Excerpted from the book, here is a selection of things we can all look forward to.
Hugging a Friend:
It was only during the pandemic when I couldn’t hug anyone that I realized how much I missed it. My friends and I hug to celebrate something good, and we hug to commiserate when things are bad. I hug my grown children and remember when they fit in my arms; I hug my parents and almost remember fitting in theirs. I hug my bony ninety-two-year-old friend very gently, and I hug my friend’s giggly baby robustly. And I look forward to their hugs in return.
Writing a Letter:
The pandemic reminded many of us of the joy of sending each other things in the mail. We crave tactile connection. If we can’t see each other or touch each other, we can write something by hand and imagine it arriving in someone else’s hand. We dash off electronic messages all the time, but when we sit down to write a letter, we think more about the person reading it. Will they rip it open and read it right away? Will they put the kettle on and take their time? Will they write back?
Moving the Furniture Around:
My grandmother, who never went on vacation, used to say, “A change is as good as a holiday.” Every time we visited her, we would find the living room reconfigured. There’s something to be said for moving furniture around. For one thing, it forces you to sweep under the couch, and maybe you’ll find something you thought was lost. It also makes you see things that had become invisible to you. It changes your perspective.
Making a List:
If you are in a rut, if you feel overwhelmed by gloom, if you are exhausted and uninspired and out of sorts, you can make a list of Things to Look Forward To. Simple things, everyday things. Things that don’t cost much money. Things you can do without leaving the house. Things that bring you pleasure. Things that you don’t want to take for granted. Things that may never actually happen but are fun to look forward to all the same. And if you make such a list, you can share it with a friend, or with me, and it might make us all feel better.
Share your list with Sophie Blackall, or just follow her, on Instagram @sophieblackall
