102 by Matthew Cordell

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication Date: April 14, 2026
• Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley
• ISBN: 9780316580953

This multilayered tale uses the number 102 throughout the story. George has a fever the day that they catch the mouse in the kitchen. He puts it in an empty fish tank but the mouse won’t eat sunflower seeds. George has to go back to bed, his fever reaching 102. When he wakes up at 1:02 am, a cricket is on his bed. It chirps and then leads him off the bed, where he shrinks to cricket size and follows the cricket through a hole in the wall, past many insects and outside. After almost being snatched by an owl, they reach the home of a mouse who is making 102 bean soup, but needs one more bean. She explains that her husband had gone out to find the bean and not returned. George knows what to do. On his way back to his room, he picks up a coin and puts it in his pocket. He frees the mouse with the bean, and then goes back to bed. When he wakes up, his mother has made 102 bean soup but is the coin still in his pocket? We have to wait until George is 102 years old to answer that. 

Incredibly charming and intelligent, this picture book is a literal fever dream. Combining a high fever, a day home from school, and an adventure is very clever. Readers will not know quite what to believe is real throughout, and by the end will realize that the journey is the important part. The repetition of the number adds clever moments with 102 spider babies, an address with 102 in it and much more. The illustrations are done in pen using ink from 16 multicolored pens. The result is fine lines, pages filled with light and detail. 

A magical adventure from a master book creator. Appropriate for ages 4-6.