Jacominus Gainsborough: With Love
By Rébecca Dautremer
Verdict:
A stunning piece of design and illustration, following two animal friends, one waiting at the docks with a question, the other on a winding journey to reach him. Perhaps one of the most beautiful books of the year.
What is it about?
Jacominus is a small rabbit with a large name, waiting at the docks for his dearest friend, Sweetie. He has a question to ask her, but only if she arrives by noon. The rest of the book follows Sweetie on her way to him, through a crowd of schoolchildren, past a fortune teller, into the hands of a kite master who gives her a magical gift. Over and over again, she is waylaid. All the while, at the docks, the clock ticks toward noon.
Our take:
Rébecca Dautremer's earlier book about this rabbit, The Ordinary Life of Jacominus Gainsborough, told a whole life in twelve painted scenes. With Love does the opposite: it takes a single morning and stretches it across two hundred pages. The texts are simple, and mostly brief, with the focus squarely on a beautiful, imaginatively rendered visual world.
Physically, this book is a masterpiece, inviting countless re-reads of its intricate, laser-cut pages. Dautremer's palette of dusty rose, ochre, and deep blue-green, and her crowded, Bruegel-like street scenes, demand but also greatly reward curiosity.
A note on practicalities: at $64.99 this is a gift and a keepsake rather than a casual shelf addition. Very young children may struggle to care for its delicate pages. However, as an object of beauty and curiosity, as well as a physical reminder of one our favorite messages — that books are works of art and literal containers of wonder — we believe this one is well-worth inclusion in collections, where practical. It’s the sort of book a child might treasure and keep into adulthood.
Perfect for:
Ages five to seven, though the reading age matters less here. Younger children will follow Sweetie's journey happily with an adult narrating, and older children and adults will find find the text and images equally fascinating.
For multilingual families and schools, this book is also available in Spanish and the original French. The English translation releases October 6th, 2026.
Conversation Starters
Sweetie keeps stopping along the way. Which of her stops would you have made?
Have you ever been late for something important? How did it feel?
What question do you think Jacominus wants to ask?
Is it worse to be kept waiting, or to be the one who is late?
Someone gave Sweetie a gift on her journey. What would you have given her?
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Sarah Y.'s illustrated, printable play-set turns a few sheets of paper into a castle, a river, a dragon, and a story. Use it in class for crafting time, storytime, and world-building.