Willodeen

Willodeen’s cover lures everyone. Do not resist adorableness. Do not dismiss occasional magic. Both help include more readers in subtle complexities to follow. A list of what’s here would be long. And lists are spoiler-y and crude for books that speak with quiet grace, like this one. Willodeen illustrates the delicate links of the natural world with clarity. Those who quietly observe, as Willodeen does, assist all by noticing things otherwise unseen. Observers make connections. Thoughtful, methodical observers are scientists, whether they realize it or no. Nature’s details are no longer deeply familiar and well known, especially in the developed world. In an age when we are affecting nature, that change is dangerous. Katherine Applegate writes often about caring for parts of the world. She has written nine books on themes that relate, including Willodeen and Odder (9/2022). Willodeen is the first work clearly focused on the health of our home. It is realism about our world, despite fantasy creatures and a whisper of magic. Children are savvy, and parents listen carefully to their kids. So my focus is children’s books, especially read aloud (since listening age is above reading age), and about caring for the planet. They gift rare leverage to whole families. Read Willodeen as carefully as she reads the world around her. Because complexity, deftly revealed, is stunningly beautiful. Quiet strengths of children’s fiction include clear language, and thoughtful choices about the balance of loss and hope. Statistics and scientific language are absent; action and hope are here. Not surprisingly, Willodeen includes loss. Losses are hard to evade over time. How we proceed amid loss is important, and a model helps. Children’s books are often underestimated. Adults may guess the hard parts are avoided. But acknowledging difficulty and finding a way past is a gift to readers. Kids know hardship is out there, and the best children’s books brave it with them. All of the author’s books about caring for parts of the world (and how): 1 The One and Only Ivan (our treatment of other species, also endangered) 2 Home of the Brave (displacement, told in verse) 3 Crenshaw (poverty in a land of plenty) 4 wishtree (acceptance of others, in a world of increasing displacement) 5 Endling: The Last (extinction, a trilogy, in epic fantasy) 6 Endling: The First (2nd of 3) 7 Endling: The Only (3rd of 3) 8 Willodeen (the complex connections of our world) 9 Odder (9/2022, sea otters & told in verse)