In a Jar

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Friends Llewellyn and Evelyn collect things in jars that normally can't be bottled, like a cherry-colored sunset, a moment of spring lightning, and fireflies on a summer night. Opening the jars allows them to revisit these memories together... until Evelyn's family moves away. What will these two friends do now? An utterly enchanting story about the power of friendship and what unites us even when we are far apart. With illustrations that are both sweepingly gorgeous and intricately adorable, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book! Recommended By Christine R., Powells.com

With poetic language and set in a gorgeous, sprawling landscape that somehow makes the friendship of two bunnies, Llewellyn and Evelyn, feel more intimate, Deborah Marcero’s In a Jar is a sweet, delicate story about how to hold on to what we hold dear. Recommended By Gigi L., Powells.com

Here's a marvelous picture book, charmingly written and beautifully illustrated, about the power of memory and the magic of friendship.

Llewellyn, a little rabbit, is a collector. He gathers things in jars — ordinary things like buttercups, feathers, and heart-shaped stones. Then he meets another rabbit, Evelyn, and together they begin to collect extraordinary things — like rainbows, the sound of the ocean, and the wind just before snow falls. And, best of all, when they hold the jars and peer inside, they remember all the wonderful things they've seen and done. But one day, Evelyn has sad news: Her family is moving away. How can the two friends continue their magical collection — and their special friendship — from afar?

"Readers will feel the warmth of friendship and the wonder of the world as well. Stunning." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

"An enchanting examination of the pleasure reaped from cultivating imagination, friendship, and memory." School Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Cozy yet also endearingly offbeat" Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This joyful account of friendship will charm readers with the notion of capturing wind or a rainbow in a jar, but its deeper message of maintaining relationships over a distance will comfort those who have moved or know someone who has." Booklist (Starred Review)

Deborah Marcero is the author and illustrator of My Heart Is a Compass, which Kirkus Reviews called "lovely, lively, and enchanting," in a starred review, and the illustrator of Twinderella by Corey Rosen Schwartz. She received a BFA in drawing, printmaking, and photography from the University of Michigan and an MFA in poetry from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After teaching in Chicago public schools as a literacy specialist, Deborah realized that writing and creating books for kids was how she wanted to spend her life. Learn more at deborahmarcero.com and follow her on Twitter @deborahmarcero.