9 Kilometers

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A brilliantly illustrated account of an arduous—yet deeply rewarding—journey.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Lyon’s saturated, painterly illustrations capture the text’s thoughtful mood, visualizing the walk—and the antics of various animal and bird species—across landscapes both wide-lens and zoomed-in. Contemplating, per an end note, ‘the construction of a society in which education is a right and not a privilege,’ this is a narrative to encounter again and again.”

Booklist
“Small paintings of children from eight countries depict how they travel to school. Showing their circumstances underscores the message that these are current, not historical, conditions, and conveys the importance of education to families across the world.”

Horn Book Magazine
“Most of the story is revealed in the atmospheric acrylic paintings; for example, we see the child use a forked stick to raise the bottom of a barbed-wire fence and crawl through. . . . One particularly effective picture shows the character crossing a cow pasture, looking tiny in the expanse with the bigger animals.”

School Library Journal (starred review)
“With an overarching message that education is well worth the walk, this book is recommended for all picture book collections.”