Lost and Found

5 Star Review

Click HERE to Purchase Your Copy Today!

Editorial Book Review:

By Vicent Morris

Robin Sturm has always written children's books that take real things seriously without making them scary, and Lost and Found may be her most important subject yet. Racism is not a topic most picture books attempt with any real directness, and the ones that do often err in one of two directions: they either sanitize it into something unrecognizable or they heavy-hand the message until the child feels lectured rather than moved. Sturm does neither.

What she understands, and what makes this book work so well, is that children are never too young to learn that every person carries equal value. Not as an abstract principle delivered from above, but as something felt, something discovered through story. That is exactly what Lost and Found offers. The message is clear and the approach is warm, and Emily Drummond's illustrations give the whole thing a visual life that draws children in before the words even begin to land.

The title itself carries the book's quiet wisdom. Something is lost when we fail to see each other fully. Something is found when we choose to look with love instead of fear. Sturm doesn't explain this to her readers. She shows it to them, in the way that only the best children's authors know how to do, through characters and situations that feel real enough to stick.

This is the kind of book that belongs in every classroom and every home library, not just during teachable moments but on ordinary afternoons when a child picks it up simply because the cover looked interesting. Those are often the moments when the most important things get learned.

About the Author

Robin Sturm

Robin Conrad Sturm began her ballet training at the Washington School of Ballet and received scholarships to the American Ballet Theatre School and School of American Ballet in New York City. A founding member and principal dancer of the Washington Ballet, she originated numerous lead roles in works by renowned choreographer Choo San Goh and performed principal roles in ballets by Balanchine, Heinz Claus, and others. She also appeared as a soloist at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.

Sturm has taught at the Washington School of Ballet and American University. Alongside her husband, Robert, she founded the Masterworks Festival, now one of the nation’s largest summer programs for classical music and dance. She is currently artistic director of the Asaph Dance Ensemble and choreographed its acclaimed annual production of Handel’s Messiah.

Sturm is also the author of Breathing Life Into Dance and several children’s books. She and Hannah, the inspiration for Hannah Finds Her Voice, appeared on the Today show.