Little Girl...Big Dreams, Big Adventures

If you time it right on a full moon night, sitting on the horizon, it looks close enough to touch.  At the darkest hour, when the air is clear, high in the sky overhead, with little stretch of your imagination, you believe it to be closer than it is.  These are the times when visiting the moon for polite conversation seems possible.

In her debut picture book, Red Knit Cap Girl (Megan Tingley Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, June 2012), author illustrator Naoko Stoop introduced readers to one small girl wearing her signature articles of clothing, who takes the time to nurture her curiosity.  This small child has a deep appreciation for the natural world.  This small child dreams big.

In the forest, there is time to wonder about everything. Red Knit Cap Girl wonders about flowers, butterflies, leaves, and clouds.

What Red Knit Cap Girl wants more than anything else is to talk with the Moon.  To get close enough she goes out on a tall branch and has her friend White Bunny lean out over a reflection on the pond.  These don't work, of course, so she asks another friend, Hedgehog how he thinks she can reach the Moon.

His suggestion of seeking advice from Owl, has her approaching his old oak tree in the darker parts of the forest.  He tells her the Moon is much too far away...

"...but if you want, she will bend down to listen to you."

Now Red Knit Cap Girl must do something to get the Moon's attention.  She gathers her friends Bear, Squirrel, Hedgehog, White Bunny and two little white birds, to plan a festive welcome for the Moon that evening.  Each has suggestions and offers of help.

Perhaps small glows of light will let the Moon know Red Knit Cap Girl is waiting for her.  Paper lanterns are made and hung; the merrymaking begins but is greeted only with silence.  In fact, the Moon seems to be absent from the night sky this evening.  Owl and Nature herself provide the answer to making a big dream come true.


Simple delightful sentences surround readers with warmth taking them into the story of Red Knit Cap Girl and her forest friends.  A mixture of narration and conversation tell the tale.  A gentle childlike cadence, perfected by Naoko Stoop using the structure of threes, summons readers to continue.  Here is a single passage.

"The Moon might like decorations," says Hedgehog.
"I can hang them because I am tall," says Bear.
"I can help because I am nimble," says Squirrel.


Readers immediately notice the unique background on the jacket and cover of this title.  Naoko Stoop uses acrylic, ink and pencil on plywood to render her illustrations. If you open the jacket two separate illustrations, the front highlighting Red Knit Cap Girl and White Bunny in a circle of light, the back with the two friends sitting on a branch looking at a large moon, are designed in pleasing symmetry.  The cover, different, has a much stronger wood background depicting each of the characters at play.

Blue shaded, swirled marble-like endpapers, are dotted with varying round white spots...moonbeams?  The pictures move from double page spreads, edge to edge, to single edge to edge pages and to other single pages with large plywood background frames, elements slipping past the edges to depict movement. Colored hues of the backdrop suggest times of day surrounding the delicate-featured characters.  Stoop shows the passage of time with the ever-increasing size of the Moon's shape.  One of my favorite illustrations is a single page.  Red Knit Cap Girl is seated on a branch with Bear, Hedgehog, White Bunny, Squirrel and the two birds, with a single lantern hanging below, glowing, as they long hopefully for the Moon.


I couldn't have been happier to realize this month brought the release of another title by Naoko Stoop, Red Knit Cap Girl To The Rescue (Megan Tingley Books, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company).  If your view of life is optimistic, chances are you will seize opportunities when others might not.  You will see no danger to yourself in assisting another in trouble.

It's a windy day in the forest.  Red Knit Cap Girl and her friends are playing together. 

As Bear, Hedgehog, Squirrel and White Bunny fashion telescopes, hats and kites from paper, Red Knit Cap Girl spies something clearly in distress out on the open water.  A small polar bear cub is floating on a chunk of ice, having strayed from its home and mother.  Without giving it a second thought, Red Cap Girl makes a large paper airplane glider which she and White Bunny use to bring the wayward stranger to shore.

When the Moon rises in the evening, Red Knit Cap Girl chats with her about finding Polar Bear Cub's family.  As the new day begins, it finds her and her friends busily building a boat to sail across the ocean.  Following the Moon's light, hanging on tight during a turbulent storm and under the guidance of a pair of Orcas, the trio, Red Knit Cap Girl, White Bunny and Polar Bear Cub, journey to the cold north.

New wonders flicker in colored hues across a night sky.  A shoreline stops the boat's passage as all gaze at a world filled with ice and snow.  Is this where Polar Bear Cub will find his family?


It is the innocence, kindness and wondering of Red Knit Cap Girl which shines through in her dialogue with her friends in this story.  The response by them to the goodness she embodies is seen in the narrative.  The bond between readers and this book is strengthened by having each of the characters, the Moon, Owl, Hedgehog, Squirrel, Bear and White Bunny (plus the two little white birds) from the previous title reappear.  Here is an example.

They sail north in search of Polar Bear Cub's home.
"I hope it's not too far away..." says Red Knit Cap Girl.
"Follow the light of the Moon," calls Owl.


On the front and back jacket there is a balanced lightness; the blue sky over the pale shades of golden tan (the plywood) is reversed on the back as Polar Bear floats forlornly in the sea.  It's interesting to note the letters in the title are breezing along with Red Knit Cap Girl and White Bunny as they fly to the rescue.  All the characters are enjoying their paper toys on the cover as leaves float by them.  A variegated mixture of greens with tiny white dots above, color the opening and closing endpapers.

The attractive blend in illustrative sizes seen in the first book is repeated in this title with blues, greens and golds being the more predominant colors. When Red Knit Cap Girl first sees Polar Bear Cub, it is through the circle of her paper telescope.  That same size circle is used to frame several more single page pictures rather than the wide plywood frames used in the previous title.  One of my favorite illustrations is the two pages depicting the storm at sea; stylized pointed waves reaching toward jagged lightning bolts as White Bunny, Polar Bear Cub and Red Knit Cap Girl hold on tight squeezing their eyes closed.  Stoop even gives Polar Bear Cub a paper rain poncho to wear.


Red Knit Cap Girl and Red Knit Cap Girl To The Rescue written and illustrated by Naoko Stoop will not only endear readers to the main character and her friends, but will make us all strive to view the world, appreciate life, through her eyes.  Readers of all ages will find these books completely charming.  I thank Naoko Stoop for bringing these books into the children's literature world.

To learn more about Naoko Stoop and her artwork please visit her website by following the link embedded in her name.  She was featured at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Red Knit Cap Girl was on The New York Times Best Illustrated Books last year.  I was personally thrilled to discover Naoko Stoop's Etsy shop. For an additional interview with Naoko Stoop about Red Knit Cap Girl To The Rescue at Carter Higgins's blog, Design of the Picture Book, follow this link.

A Reading Ritual Interrupted...

It's the comforting rituals from childhood which form lasting memories.  The anticipation of those daily, weekly, monthly or yearly occurrences bring a sense of security and belonging to a boy's or girl's world creating a rhythm for their lives.  It might be shopping for supplies before a new year of school, celebrating holidays and birthdays, a weekly visit to the library to gather a stack of books to bring home, eating an evening meal together or taking a walk with your dog one last time at the end of the day.  These customs are as varied as the people who make up the families, small or large.

One thing, one very important thing, can happen every single day.  It's cost is measured in minutes or hours but the rewards are priceless.  It happens at different times all around the world; everyone is the better for these shared moments.  In the forest realm, something has interrupted this nightly event, something silent, mysterious.  Author Helen Docherty and her illustrator husband, Thomas Docherty, have teamed together for the first time to tell this tale in The Snatchabook (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky).

One dark, dark night in Burrow Down,
a rabbit named Eliza Brown
found a book and settled down...

when a Snatchbook flew into town.

All the creatures of Burrow Down, owls, mice, rabbits, badgers and hedgehogs, read books or listened to books being read aloud at bedtime every night.  Stories of dragons, witches, pirates or princesses had them dreaming and pretending.  Eliza Brown is amazed when without warning, the book she is reading disappeared from her hands.

She did see her curtains move a bit.  The owls did hear tapping.  Perhaps the squirrels heard something, too. What everyone was sure of though was their books were vanishing.  Each night it was the same; something, someone, was stealing their books.

With a plan in place, Eliza Brown was not about to let this continue.  A stack of books as bait did the trick.  Terrified but determined she called out as a shadow crossed her bedroom floor.

A reply is heard.  Words are exchanged.  Everyone, even a Snatchabook, needs stories.


After several silent readings and one aloud, I find the words composed by Helen Docherty ring with a magical beat of their own.  Rhyming phrases invite pausing and pacing.  Readers will wonder about the mystery, will cheer on Eliza Brown's courage and cleverness and find solace in the resolution. Here is a single passage from the book.

The little owls, on Mommy's lap,
were quite surprised to hear a tap
against the bedroom window glass.
Tap, tap! The noise came really fast.
Before they'd even looked around,
the book was gone---without a sound.


When looking at the  matching jacket and cover, featuring the two main characters, the front in the light of day in a woodland nook, the duo surrounded by stacks of books, the back at night in a bunny's cozy bedroom, readers will begin to speculate about the title, wondering about the story to be told.  Opening and closing endpapers done in two shades of blue showcase a scene from the forest at night, moon in the sky, small closed windows and doors in tree trunks indicating the presence of animal homes.  When Eliza appears, hands on hips, looking at the Snatchabook perched on a book stack on the title page, I guarantee readers will already be falling slightly in love with them both.

Thomas Docherty's illustrations light up each and every page whether they are his two page spreads, single pages or smaller pictures framed in white.  His fine lines, exquisite details, draw the reader's eyes into the story.  Peeks into the animal homes at night are precious, perfectly extending the narrative.   The color palette on the jacket and cover are continued on all the pages, giving the reader a feel for being in the forest.  One technique in particular I like is his placing of large open pages of books into the illustrations, making the animal readers into the characters.  One of my favorites is of Eliza Brown tucked under the covers in bed, lamp next to her (with carrots on the shade), small stuffed toy bunny on the bed, reading a book.  The larger part of this visual is filled with a page from a book, looking much like a scene from Little Red Riding Hood. 


Do you want a book that celebrates books and reading?  Do you want a book that shines a joyful light on reading aloud at bedtime?  The Snatchabook written by Helen Docherty with illustrations by Thomas Docherty does this splendidly.  This book is a gem, a gem to be shared repeatedly.

To read more about the author and illustrator, follow the links to their websites embedded in their names above.  Thomas Docherty features several more pages from this book at his site.  This link is to The Snatchabook Activity Kit.  An educator's guide can be found by following this link.

Dwelling In Friendship

Four months ago, to my surprise, a package was laid on my doorstep by my wonderful mailman.  Inside were two books a friend knew I would love.  The one, A Hen for Izzy Pippik by Aubrey Davis with illustrations by Marie Lafrance was read and reviewed the very next day.  To say the other was not read immediately would not be true.  It was read then and many times since its arrival.

One of the basic needs to survive is shelter.  To me there has always been a huge difference though between a house and a home.  No matter the size or location, the inhabitants and their visitors need to feel an extra warmth, a sense of welcome and comfort, a place they would be glad to call home.  A House in the Woods (Candlewick Press, November 8, 2011) written and illustrated by British author illustrator, Inga Moore, is a tale of mishaps made into a miracle by a friendly foursome and a bunch of busy beavers.

A Little Pig had made a den for herself in the woods.  Next door, another Little Pig had made himself a hut.

When exploring in the forest one morning the two find a special feather and a zigzaggedty stick but when they each return home, other surprises await them.  Bear has decided to take up residence in Little Pig's den and Moose is living in Little Pig's hut.  The Little Pigs really like Bear and Moose but not what happens to their homes.  With a whoosh and loud snapping their dwellings lay in ruins.

Sitting on a nearby park bench the four ponder this dilemma.  None of them likes the idea of being without a roof over their heads.  Quite suddenly Moose pops up with a marvelous idea; they could construct a house large enough for all of them.  Moose knows they need the very best to help them build a real home, one with walls, a roof, windows and doors.  A phone call later the Beaver Builders are on the job.

With payment negotiated, peanut butter sandwiches, work begins.  Accomplishments are assessed at mealtimes over the next few days.  Builder Beavers, Moose, Bear and the Little Pigs each contribute according to their strengths.  A trip to the junkyard, grocery store and to the lodge at the lake signal an end and a new beginning; a house, a home and four friends dwelling therein.


There is something calm and understated about the way Inga Moore has this narrative unfold; almost as if readers are gathered together listening to a storyteller.  There is an air of collective cooperation in all things said and done.  And yes, humor, makes an appearance at the right moment each and every time.  Here is a sample passage.

...and by dinnertime the roof
was on.  (The lunch and dinner
times were on different 
days, of course.  Beavers are
fast, but not that fast.)


What draws the reader into the story though are her illustrations rendered in pencil, pastel and wash using an earth tone palette.  The matching jacket and cover allude to a time in the future, of pastoral peace and pleasantries among friends.  Each of the endpapers, opening and closing, extend the story.  In the beginning we readers wonder why a bear and two pigs crossing a meadow are bringing stacks of sandwiches on plates to a group of happy beavers.  At the end you can almost hear a collective sigh at the sight of a moon rising over the railed walkway leading to the beaver's lodge on the pond; the surrounding trees reflected in the still waters.

Astonishing details are prevalent is all the realistic delicate pictures.  Moore alters between a double page spread, one crossing the gutter to create a panel for the text, to a single page framed in white or extending to the edges or insets framed by text.  Her close-up of Moose making the phone call on an old style phone, which just happens to be hanging from a tree trunk, is delightful.  The beavers clad in hard hats arriving in pickup trucks with slatted wooden sides will bring on the giggles.  There is so much to enjoy in each and every illustration.


I will be singing praises for A House in the Woods by Inga Moore loud and strong as many times as I can.  It would work well with Building Our House by Jonathan Bean or If I Built a House by Chris Van Dusen.  I invite you to read Bringing Words to Life and Inga Moore, illustrator of the Wind in the Willows to further appreciate the process behind her work.

And to my happy-go-lucky friend, I send thanks for bringing this wonderful book into my reading life.

And They're Off...

You'd never know it from looking out the window but yesterday, March 20, 2013 was the official first day of spring.  In the past forty-eight hours we went from a winter weather advisory to a winter storm warning to a lake effect snow advisory.  Due to the gusty breezes off Lake Michigan our wind chills have been in the single digits and the foot deep snow drifts are commonplace again.

At times like this the best thing to do is build a roaring fire in the fireplace, drink hot chocolate and read a cheerful, new book release featuring green grass, trees with leaves, yellow butterflies and forest youngsters.  With the same gift for portraying animal antics as she did in Red Sled (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 2011)(reviewed here) Lita Judge's new title Red Hat (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) takes us to the familiar setting in a new season.  Curiosity and opportunity converge creating another wild romp.


As soon as the front cover is opened we are greeted with the title page picturing the child clad in a red hat running across a meadow, yellow flower in hand, the small brown cottage in the background, as four rabbits watch from the lower corner.  On the next two pages we see a wash tub has been placed on the grass in front of the cottage; the child washing the hat.  Three baby rabbits and their mother scamper closer for a look.

Swish swash swish swash

On a line stretched between a pine and birch tree the now clean hat hangs, rabbits jumping beneath as a baby bear and mother bear approach.  Temptation being too great, the younger bear snags the hat from its perch galloping away in delight.  With the flash and dash other animals join the chase, a porcupine and raccoon.  Of the two with a squint and reach, the bandit grabs the tasseled end.

Now the hat has switched to another wearer only this time it's started to unravel, what with all the tugging and pulling.  With vocal glee, Yoo-ha!, a tiny mouse grabs on for the ride of his life.  His wide-eyed wonder turns to worry the run escalating, whipping him around trees, as another flop-eared friend grips on for the trip, too.

What's that?  Possession has been reclaimed by the bear as he heads over a hill.  Then...all the frivolity comes to a screeching halt.  Where once there was a hat, red yarn is strung about clothespins.  With a Tink-a-tink tink a pleasing conclusion is fashioned for more than one.


Using only a minimum of words, onomatopoeic sounds or brief exclamations, Lita Judge's illustrations tell her story.  Rendered in pencil and watercolor there is an undercurrent of barely concealed mirth evident on all the pages.  A glowing warmth shines from the abundance of green, the hues of browns, the white, the yellow and splashes of red.  You can almost feel the sun on your face.

The animation on each of the characters' faces is brimming with expression; glee, curiosity, exuberance, satisfaction, concern, guilt and nonchalance.  Judge alternates the view for her readers;  closing in to show just the paws pulling the hat from the clothesline or the mouse grabbing the yarn but then pulling back to show all of the animals running with or holding on to the hat.  The tiniest of details add to the laughter readers will not be able to contain when reading; the mouse grasping the porcupine's quill after his fall or a rabbit's ears tied in a knot.

Each of the two page spreads throughout is framed with a pencil line, then a larger white border.  To show movement characters or the yarn will break out of the frame into the white space.  My favorite illustration is when the critters crazy caper is stopped and we readers are looking at their upturned faces.

Red Hat written and illustrated by Lita Judge is pure, perfect fun from beginning to end.  It's as if she has happiness stored in a bottle sprinkling it over her pages so when readers open the book it wraps around us.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Follow the link embedded in Lita Judge's name above to view her official website.  She has many pictures from this book there for your enjoyment plus she has a red hat contest.  Select Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast to read her interview.  Enjoy this video chat with Lita Judge and book trailer for Red Hat.