If there’s one thing I simply can’t resist, it’s a new book about the Brontës. As a longtime fan, I’m endlessly fascinated by them and always eager to learn more.

In The Little Books of the Little Brontës (Tundra, 2023), Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith show how the love of storytelling and the power of books sustained young Charlotte, Emily, Branwell and Anne after they prematurely lost their mother and two older sisters to illness.

As the story opens, we see Charlotte crafting a small handmade book for her youngest sister Anne. Illustrated with tiny watercolors, the happy-ending tale features Anne as an only child who travels to marvelous places with her rich parents. Real life, however, is quite different.

Living with their father, aunt, and housekeeper Tabatha at the edge of the wild moors, the Brontë children cope with sadness and grief by clinging to each other and creating “a world unto themselves.” Their days are marked by morning lessons and afternoon outdoor wanderings, as their love of stories permeates almost everything they do.

Voracious readers, they devour fiction, poetry, history, geography, fables, the Bible and even the dictionary. “They make up poems as they walk the moors,” invent characters as they work in the kitchen, act out plays at night in bed.

One noteworthy day, their father brings home toys for all of them. Charlotte gets a bowling game, Emily, a toy village, and Anne receives a dancing doll. But it is the box of toy soldiers for Branwell that excites them the most. They each choose one for their own, calling them the Young Men. These soldiers would become the heroes in their own stories.

Since they love books so much, they decide to make miniature books for their soldiers written in handwriting so small no adult in the house could read it. Though the books were tiny, the worlds they encompassed were enormous — spanning continents and oceans, containing love stories, battles, heroes, and anti-heroes.

Though they’d eventually outgrow their toy soldiers, they never outgrew their love of writing stories. Charlotte, Emily and Anne would go on to publish novels that would be read for centuries, among the finest in all of English literature.

O’Leary’s captivating narrative is tender and moving. Directly addressing the reader at the outset, she’s able to establish an intimate tone that emotionally resonates throughout. She mentions, but does not dwell on the family deaths, instead spotlighting the children’s steadfast bond as inseparable companions, study and playmates, and writing collaborators.

Though they seldom journeyed farther than they could walk and kept apart from visitors, they didn’t seem to need others for stimulation. Making their little books provided ample opportunity to ‘travel’ beyond familiar ground with their fertile imaginations fueling enthusiastic exchanges.

Briony May Smith’s atmospheric mixed media illustrations are rendered in a subdued autumnal palette primarily of browns, rusts, and dark greens. Sepia-like tones underscore the bleakness of the landscape and evoke the past, contrasting nicely with cozy firelit interiors where all are happily gathered together in rapt engagement.

The children’s facial expressions are sweet and innocent but never cutesy. It’s quite poignant looking at these motherless children making the most of their austere existence, and we can definitely admire their resiliency.

Kids will enjoy the period details, from the girls’ pinafores to the children’s playthings, to their writing and bookmaking instruments and materials.

My favorite spreads are the aerial view of the dining table showing three empty chairs (heart wrenching), and the bedroom scene showing the children acting out stories (brilliant use of light and shadow to depict inner and outer worlds). Love how Smith’s emotionally palpable visual narrative enriches and expands O’Leary’s story.

The Little Books of the Little Brontës is both inspiring and life affirming. Both author and illustrator use the element of contrast to great effect: little books vs. big ideas, small children vs. big love for each other, bleak surroundings vs. burning flame of creativity, real life vs. life of the imagination, isolated existence vs. lasting impact on the entire world.

Back matter includes instructions on how to make your own little book, an author’s note, timeline, and list of sources. Nice touch: the endpapers resemble the wallpaper in the Brontë Parsonage sitting room, where Charlotte, Emily, and Anne wrote their novels. This book is a wonderful way to introduce young readers to the Brontës; after all, you just never know where a childhood passion may lead.

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THE LITTLE BOOKS OF THE LITTLE BRONTËS
written by Sara O’Leary
illustrated by Briony May Smith
published by Tundra Books, October 2023
Picture Book Biography for ages 5-9, 40 pp.
**Starred Reviews** from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Quill & Quire, and School Library Journal

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📕 SPECIAL GIVEAWAY! 📗

The publisher is generously donating a copy of the book for one lucky Alphabet Soup reader. For a chance to win, please leave a comment at this post no later than midnight (EST) Wednesday, February 28, 2024. You may also enter by sending an email with “Brontës” in the subject line to: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. Good Luck!

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*Interior spreads text copyright © 2023 Sara O’Leary, illustrations © 2023 Briony May Smith, published by Tundra Books. All rights reserved.

**Copyright © 2024 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.