Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Children’s picture books

MOUSEBOAT

Abigail Halpin Larissa Theule

Even when you're lost in a storm, you can find home again.

The wind is your voice.
You whisper to me.

A young girl feels lost after the death of her mother. Dad tries his best to manage everything alone, but things just aren't the same. When they take a trip to their lake house, the girl longs to feel a connection to her mom, and so she takes out the small mouseboat that she and her mom built together. And somehow, in the wind and the rain, protected by the mouseboat, she finds her mother's love.

A lyrical, soothing story about new beginnings, even in the darkest times, Mouseboat is a powerful tribute to finding your way home again.

Larissa Theule holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of the picture books Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face, A Way with Wild Things, How Do You Do? and Kafka and the Doll. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Abigail Halpin has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Her illustrations blend traditional and digital media, mixing watercolor, ink, pencil, and collage. When not drawing, she can usually be found with her nose in a book, in front of her sewing machine, or out of doors exploring.

Available products
Book Published 2023-03-28 by Viking

Comments

Figurative language in first person pairs with abstract watercolor illustrations to make a breathtaking lyrical picture book that beautifully portrays Faye's sorrow and longing. The layout and design carefully accentuate the details of both Faye and her dad trying to cope with their grief... Shades of green, blue, and brown contrast effectively with the red on Faye's jacket and the lake house, and the subtle lighting and white peppering of paint creates texture and a shimmer of hope as Faye tries to listen to her mom's encouraging words through the storm... This book will remind grieving readers that loved ones are waiting for them with patience and understanding.

With spare, heartfelt text, Theule invites readers into a narrating child's deepest feelings about missing their deceased mother and finding a way to feel at home again after her death... Halpin's crisp mixed-media art depicts a lush green woodland and brilliant blue water that shimmers, roils, laps, and crashes in dramatic scenes that mimic the child's emotional journey.

In sparse but moving text, Theule explores the soft, somber moments of grief. The dynamic changes, not only between the absent and the present but between those left behind as well. Halpin's detailed watercolor, colored pencil, and digital art captures the tone and narrative progression of Faye's story... A soothing, reassuring look at loss and life.

Halpin's digital, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations create a dreamlike atmosphere that perfectly captures the story's mood. Dark blues and grays dominate the scenes when depicting sadness; warm reds telegraph comfort and safety. A good book to help children cope with loss and to help them discover fresh starts even during the most challenging times.

The complexity of grief is expressed with poetic economy... In Halpin's expansive and atmospheric watercolor, colored-pencil, and digital illustrations, dark moodyblue backgrounds brighten into a warm orange-red montage of memories and comforting messages... With sensitivity and immediacy, this prescient picture book charts a cathartic journey through grief to hope.