Red Knit Cap Girl

PreS-Gr 1—A little girl dressed in a red knit cap enjoys exploring the natural world with her friend White Bunny and yearns to talk to the Moon. So Red Knit Cap Girl and her forest friends stage a celebration complete with handmade paper lanterns and wait for it to come out. When a stray gust of wind blows out a lantern, a star pops out in the sky and the girl and her friends realize what they must do: blow out all the lanterns and sit silently. Indeed, the Moon appears and says, "You have made it dark enough to see me and quiet enough to hear me, Red Knit Cap Girl." This gentle tale of how to appreciate the wonders of the natural world quietly and simply is augmented by the use of wood grain as the medium on which the acrylic, ink, and pencil illustrations are drawn. The artist uses a broad spectrum of soft, seamlessly melded background colors that serve as effective counterpoints to the Red Knit Cap Girl (whose minimalist facial features recall a Joan Walsh Anglund character). An apt choice for bedtime reading, this story affirms the necessity of turning off the light and noise of our busy world to truly recognize the everyday marvels around us.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT