{"id":6542,"date":"2026-06-09T11:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:19:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:19:00","slug":"tears-are-everywhere-by-kira-lynn-cain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6542","title":{"rendered":"Tears Are Everywhere by Kira Lynn Cain"},"content":{"rendered":"

A loving, poetic book about how it\u2019s okay to cry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Everybody cries. It\u2019s not so hard for little ones to let those tears fall, overcome with so much emotion they can\u2019t understand or control, but it\u2019s trained out of us as we grow. Kids picking on other kids being vulnerable, coaches and parents telling them they\u2019re being too much. Not all of us, but many, are taught to be strong. To get over it without attracting attention.<\/p>\n

But Kira Lynn Cain breaks down that wall with this artful exploration of how tears are everywhere, whether you see them or not. Epigraphs from Waiting for Godot <\/em>and Virgil are your first signs of the kind of thoughtful poetry you\u2019re about to encounter in this quiet, pencil and paint illustrated book.<\/p>\n

Words bounce around the pages at varied angles with blue crystalized tears falling from fluid human characters. Some pages are lightly illustrated with pencil-drawings and blue tears only, while some pages are dabbed with emotionally vibrant, various pastel colors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Cain\u2019s poetry is abstract and quite lovely, fostering deep thought in the minds of parents reading along and sparking curiosity in little ones. \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d and \u201cWhat is she saying?\u201d will be natural questions from little readers, which allows parents to intervene and talk about what it means to cry and how everybody does it. It\u2019s of course readable straight through, and kids won\u2019t want to stop you from the flow of the smooth single-line poetry, but the more they read it, the more they\u2019ll yearn to understand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes tears sing, sometimes they\u2019re in shirt pockets, getting hands wet. Even the illustrations (also done by the author) are poetic and thoughtful. \u201cThey do not talk. \/ Tears in pictures. \/ They do not leave.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a powerful book on the nature of crying. Kids may not be following a singular narrative, but it\u2019s one that works in conjunction with stories of real world application, prompting questions of when was the last time they cried? And when was the last time their parent cried? And when was the last time that misunderstood kid in class or daycare cried? It\u2019s considerate and caring all way down to its feet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a quieter book to look at than kids might be used to. The color never fills up a page, and the drawings aren\u2019t wearing loud emotions on their faces, so kids used to full-color picture books might be slower to reach for it, but with how often parents will want to return to it and how short it is, it makes for a book that can be enjoyed alongside others in your multiple-books-at-night routine. The book does end somewhat abruptly without a full-circle closing moment, but it does inspire reflection in a way that could take place of a final statement from the author.<\/p>\n

Tears Are Everywhere <\/em>is caring, meditative, and a meaningful lesson with plenty of important questions to ponder\u2014for all of us.<\/p>\n

The post Tears Are Everywhere by Kira Lynn Cain<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A loving, poetic book about how it\u2019s okay to cry Everybody cries. It\u2019s not so hard for little ones to let those tears fall, overcome with so much emotion they can\u2019t understand or control, but it\u2019s trained out of us as we grow. Kids picking on other kids being vulnerable, coaches and parents telling them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}