102

by Matthew Cordell

From Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell comes a cozy, magical nighttime adventure, in which a child discovers the mysterious, miniature world beyond his bedroom walls. Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son. Delightfully sweet as it is fantastic, 102 seamlessly explores the values of curiosity, kindness, and generosity. The simple yet profound conclusion shares a clever wink with readers, encouraging them to believe the unbelievable.

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Animals, Childrens, Adventure, Magic, Magical Realism

48 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2026

About the author

Matthew Cordell is the acclaimed author and illustrator of the 2018 Caldecott winner Wolf in the Snow. He is also the author and illustrator of Trouble Gum and the illustrator of If the S in Moose Comes Loose, Toot Toot Zoom!, Mighty Casey, Righty and Lefty, and Toby and the Snowflakes, which was written by his wife. Matthew lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife, writer Julie Halpern, and their daughter, Romy.

Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning! The added references to my birthday (10/2) and the doodles of Greg and Wirt were icing on the cake.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caldecott-award winner Matthew Cordell creates magic in a 102 different ways in this fantasy-infused picture book of kindness and empathy. Known for his incredible details and crosshatching style, Cordell’s multicolored ballpoint pen imagines a young boy named George and his escapades with the smallest of creatures.

Suffering from a 102 temperature, he pleads with his mother to keep the mouse they capture in an abandoned tank. During the night, a cricket awakens him and he shrinks down to her level only to discover hidden passageways and the mouse’s true purpose for scurrying past them with a bean. Sprinkled throughout the narrative are “102” symbols and words to mark George’s trip this night and through his life.

A rich journey of discovery and connection, Cordell reminds readers that we are connected to everything that lives and all are deserving of mercy and kindness. A beautiful and stunning masterpiece, this is Cordell at his very best. Highly recommended.

[Nancycampbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sent home from school with a fever, a young boy goes on a fabulous adventure following a cricket into the magical and miniature world beyond his bedroom. The illustrations are created using multicolored ballpoint pens on paper. They convey a warm and vintage feel, and cleverly weave the number 102 throughout the story.

[Ashley]

Now *this* is storytelling! Of course the author/illustrator of Cornbread and Poppy would create something so beautiful. Obsessed with the repetition of the numbers 102 in various representations.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such detailed illustrations!

[Tam Newell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr Sharp recommendation. Picture book about empathy. The drawings are beautiful but the fantasy storyline didn’t work for me.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story. One to ponder and read again and again.

[Helen Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few things about 102 by Matthew Cordell:

It’s a new picture book, but feels like it has always been here. I don’t know how to explain it, except for to say, it feels instantly timeless.

We learn this about how @cordell_matthew illustrated the book; “One day, while rummaging through his kids’ art supplies, Matthew found a cheery multicolored, multi scented ballpoint pen. He liked it so much, he went on to draw 102 with it, layering many lines of one color over another. It took sixteen of these pens to draw all forty-eight pages of this book.” Go to Matthew Cordell’s Instagram for more about this process!

The art is important to the story. You get insight into the story and the characters, and there’s a lot of additional details in the illustrations. 102 keeps appearing - 102 Greenbriar Drive, October 2, 102 fever - sometimes only in the illustrations. I just saw yet another 102 I hadn’t before, it’s 102% on a school assignment tacked on a bulletin board! I especially like the expressions of the crickets and the boy and especially, especially like the scene at 102 Acorn Hollow, drinking tea out of acorn cups. Somehow there’s steam coming out of the cups!

Last, but not least, if you’ve ever had that strange, hazy feeling of being sick and dreaming, Matthew Cordell has captured it perfectly in 102. It’s a 24-hour fever adventure that feels nostalgic, warm, and wonderfully weird.

I ❤️ this book!

[Miss Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story and art. However, the cricket being a she/her threw me off since her chirp is what awoke George and female crickets do not have the wing structure needed to make the chirping noise that their male counterpoints do.

[Kelly]

Very interesting. I don't think the text on the last page is necessary - I don't get it, and I would have left it with just the picture.
I'm a numbers person, so I love the way 10-2 and 102 and 1:02 were incorporated into the story.
I would say Caldecott contender for sure. I mean, it's Matthew Cordell's latest serious story, so of course it's a contender. I like this one way more than Wolf in the Snow, too.

[terra 🩰🎵 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. this is what i want to SEE

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning, the numbers 1 0 2 are depicted, creating a search and find. Love the images of other children’s books and other potential shoutouts. Imaginative, will be read more than once, great art done with colorful ballpoint pens. The one downside to a library copy is the jacket is taped on - how will kids be able to count the beans on the endpapers to check for all 102?

[Dest · Rating 5 out of 5]

This feels like a classic. It's a fever dream that reminded me mostly of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and also other children's fantasy classics like Where the Wild Things Are, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Borrowers.

If you examine the pictures, you'll find extra 102 references. For example: the date on the calendar looks to be 10/2, George got 102% on an assignment, the honey bear is 10.2 ounces, and there's a dime (10) and a 2-cent coin in Junior's room. I also noticed both George and Junior have a picture of Totoro on their bedroom walls. And while looking for 102s, I noticed the unbelievable number of pen strokes it took to make the illustrations. Astonishing!

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The opening spread remains anchored in the familiar; A kid is sent home with a fever of 101, a stray mouse scurries across the floor, and a debate ensues about getting rid of it or keeping it.

The reassuring line, "You'll be safe with me" provides a hint about issues that quickly arise.

This is an ideal place to elicit ideas about what, exactly, will happen next. I'd wager (money I don't have) that brilliant ideas will follow, but none with get it right, at least not in total. The child narrator attempts to follow a calling grasshopper, shrinking to hole-in-the-wall size himself. Readers join him for a journey inside the walls of the house. Who and what he meets there are both curious and informative, but must not delay him on the quest led by the grasshopper. Eventually, they reach the source of the truth about those beans, and about that mouse, and about the boy himself.

I've already given away so much of the story, but that should not deter you. The best continues on, and each page provides Cordell's color-drawn line art in ways that underscore this nighttime adventure, a quasi-reaslitic adventure, and the tenderness of a mother for her ailing child.

Even in the final pages, this beans, those 102 repetitions, that gentle recognition of kindness toward others all resonate on the page. What part is realistic? What happened and what didn't happen? That's for you and young readers to decide.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intriguing premise of 102 by Matthew Cordell centers on a young boy whose home from school with a fever. After his mother captures a mouse in the kitchen, young George places the mouse in an old terrarium for the night, intending to keep it. But during the night, George awakens to find a cricket on his bed. The cricket shrinks him down before leading him through a passage in the wall and outside to visit the home of the mouse's family who also has a sick child. Using the number 102 to connect the different parts of the story creates an unusual unifying element. Each section of the story begins with a full page illustration with some correlation to the number 102--a time, number of beans in a soup, a fever, or an address. The change in perspective creates some interesting questions about point-of-view and how much people miss by considering only their own perspective. Whether the journey is a dream or real comes down to the final page of the story. Cordell's hand-drawn illustratrations made with multi-colored pens presents readers with a story full of nostalgia which makes sense once one gets to the end of the story. The list of different types of beans on the endpapers also gets explained in the story, a fun detail for young readers to come back to after reading the story. A fun story with an unusual connecting subplot. Who knew a whole story could come to life from a single number. Recommended.

[Roben · Rating 5 out of 5]

George has a fever so he had to come home from school early. He and his mom are in the kitchen when they spy a wee mouse, running away with a bean. Mom is not a fan but George quickly captures the mouse and puts it in a small enclosure so he can release it later. His fever goes up so Mom puts him to bed. That's when the cricket appears and beckons George to follow her. George quickly shrinks down to cricket size and follows her into the walls and outside. There is a mouse family in trouble and George is the only one who can help.

Can you find all of the 102s?
There are several addresses that are 102
George's fever is 102 degrees
The cricket wakes George up at 1:02 AM

And many more.

This is a delightful book that has a little bit of a Polar Express feel to it.
Be sure to peek under the dust jacket because the cover of the book is different.

And it's of interest to note that this book is drawn with "cheery, multi-colored, multi-scented ballpoint pens" which Matthew found while digging through art supplies! But not 102 of them.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I genuinely struggled with this one.

102 reads like a fever dream involving bean soup, a mouse, and an endless parade of literary and pop-culture references. As I turned the pages, I kept asking myself the same questions: Who is this book for? What is the plot? And what exactly am I supposed to be taking away from this experience?

I suspect part of the enthusiasm surrounding this title, particularly in Caldecott conversations, stems from the artwork. Matthew Cordell's illustrations are energetic, detailed, and packed with visual references. For some readers, that may be part of the appeal. For me, however, the pages felt overwhelmingly busy. It felt scratchy and overdone.

Unfortunately, this one never clicked for me. I finished it feeling more confused than delighted, and despite its obvious ambition, I couldn't connect with either the narrative or the artwork.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The number 102 pops up in a number of places in this dream-like adventure where a sick boy shrinks down to the size of a mouse and travels between the walls and out into the grass w a cricket. He visits a mouse family who is worried about their own sick boy and the father who hasn’t returned yet w the last bean needed for their 102-bean soup. The last spread addresses the reader directly- “Perhaps you are asking … Was it all a dream? Was it all real?” Much, much later, the text says, when the boy is now an old 102-year-old white-bearded man, we get an answer. The multilayered crosshatched colored pen drawings, the magical encounters w creatures between the walls, having tea w the mama mouse- all these and more contribute to a timeless surreal reading experience.

[Whitney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is quite saccharine. "You're a special boy, George" when he's done pretty close to nothing is...a take.

The 102 plot device was forced. There are illustrations that don't match to make it work, such as "102 crickets" (there are 3) or "102" written on what looks to be a dime? Never once have I heard of a 102 bean soup. 10 or 15 maybe. 102 is entirely too many and you're going to get MAYBE one of each in a bowl.

I was acutely aware the art was made with a ballpoint pen, but double checked to make sure. Some of it is better than others. I particularly liked the trees and the owls, but the main character has a very bland, passive face for most of the book and doesn't look like he has a wide range of expressions.

Again...the Newbery is for best WRITING. This isn't it.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one reminded me of Chris Van Allsburg’s old stories! The illustrations are marvelous. The story revolves around a boy named George who is sick with a 101 degree fever. His mom is making him some soup when a mouse comes into the kitchen! Naturally, Mom is pretty frightened and captures the mouse, who is carrying a bean, in a bowl. George decides to put the mouse in his empty terrarium and goes upstairs to sleep. He now has a fever of 102.

While he is sleeping, he has a dream. This dream whisks him off to a not-so-far-off place where he learns about a lot of things. This dream sequence really makes it Van Allsburg-ish. And I love it! In the end, one must decide, was the dream real?

Mia’s 3rd Year of Books: Day 106

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved that the pens used to make this book were multi-scented. A boy lives at 102 Greenbrier drive, where his mother has just caught a mouse. The boy keeps the mouse. I love that the author used the word skosh. Extra star for that. So the boy has a fever, and then at 1:02 a.m. He wakes up, shrinks down to the size of a cricket, and goes inside his bedroom wall. He winds up outside in a tree where some mice live and he finds out the mouse he put in his old pet's tank is actually a husband and a father. The cricket leads him back to his room, he grows back to his normal size, and he frees the father mouse. This was really cool.

[Zan Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son."--

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the illustrations! I also like the parallel story of the boy with a fever who finds a mouse he wants to keep. His fever dreams have him join a grasshopper on a trip to visit a mouse family where the youngest is ill and needs the father who left for beans to return so the mother can finish her soup. A sort of parallel universe of mice and men, if you will. I could pour over these illustrations for hours and I believe they will be the biggest draw to the book for all of my readers in my elementary school.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inventive adventure story in which a boy isn't feeling well and ends up on a mission to chase a mouse and finds a mouse mom taking care of her ill mouse child and missing her mouse husband who was the mouse that the kid ended up putting in a tank and he realizes that he needs to fix that because all she wants to do is make the 102 bean soup to make him feel better. But it has that

Everything features the number in some way which makes it a curiously neat organization for the picture book with the colored pencil/pen illustrations that feel whimsical. I liked it.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A totally enchanting picture book about a young boy who lives at 102 Greenbriar Drive who is sent home from school on Oct. 2 with a fever. He catches a mouse carrying a bean and puts it in an old tank. That night at 1:02 when his fever is at 102, the boy wakes up to a chirp and follows a cricket to an adventure that leads him to the mouse's family. Along the way, the boy encounters other animals and the number 102. Ingenious storytelling and absorbing illustrations make this a picture book that will delight and fascinate readers of all ages.

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I will spend time asking the students to predict what the story is about from the cover (both dust and undie covers), end pages, and title page. I really enjoy how this book brings a fairy tale together with a child and animals, but I also really appreciate the style choice of using the number 102 as a connector, a touchpoint in a way. I could not have guessed, although I did try, the story of this book from the cover and I think having students really take the time to think about it first will help them to enjoy and absorb more of the story as I did.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a captivating little book! Before I even began, I was enchanted to learn that Matthew Cordell created the illustrations using sixteen cheery, multicolored, multiscented ballpoint pens borrowed from his children’s art supplies. Knowing that made every page feel even more alive and wonderfully spontaneous.

And the story itself—was it real? Oh yes. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. *102* has that marvelous quality of making the extraordinary feel entirely possible. The combination of the story and those exuberant illustrations made this a joyful, imaginative five-star read.

[CONSTANCE · Rating 5 out of 5]

George is sick and goes home from school with a fever of 102, a number that will appear many times in the story. In the middle of the night George wakes up and a cricket pulls him into a very unusual adventure. As if understanding a cricket isn’t strange enough, he suddenly shrinks and follows the cricket through a hole in his bedroom wall and meets a family of mice. With absolutely incredible illustrations, this one is sure to become a favorite.

[Holly Mueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! As Colby Sharp says, "It feels timeless; it feels classic. It feels absolutely beautiful." Reminiscent of magical books like Aaron Becker's Journey Trilogy, Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, etc., Cordell takes us on a trip through a miniature world full of awe, adventure (and a little fear), and joy. I will be buying this one to add to my Cordell book collection! This will be one of my favs of the year, I'm sure!

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool case cover art - wish the public library didn’t glue down the jacket flaps because I bet kids, like I do, would want to count the beans to see if they total 102.
George is sent home from school with fever and has big adventure (in which the number 102 is significant) with a mouse and a cricket
Love how Cordell shares his creative process and how he used 16 multi colored multi scented ball point pens to draw the pictures in this book.