The Hare and the Moon, by Catherine Hyde . Reviewed by Adèle Geras

Because it's Bank Holiday and because I want to share it as widely as I possibly can, here is The Hare and the Moon,  a book I urge you to consider seriously as something to give this Christmas to anyone who loves both art and nature. For a wonder, Catherine is someone I do not know. I have never met her though we do follow one another on Twitter. Last year I bought several packs of her Christmas cards because I love her style. Please forgive the very inadequate photographs which do no justice to the real illustrations. It's published most elegantly by Zephyr, which is a branch of House of Zeus. You can't see it in this photo, but the leaves on the tree  are in fact gold and catch the light.

The book has a tree, a bird, and a flower for every month of the year. It also has a spread showing the journey taken by a hare through the landscape and the seasons. The words are as beautiful as the images. For this one below, for example,  the words read:

Sleepy in July, the hare wanders to where the air is salt-sharp in the dusk, the sky peopled with stars. And she sings: the Rose Moon, the Flower Moon,  the Thunder Moon, the Hay Moon, the Corn Moon, the Grain Moon.

Below is the robin, December's bird.

And this below is the January tree, a crab apple.

I've limited myself to four photos because the pleasure of the real book and all the other illustrations is something you should see for yourself. Go to your nearest bookshop and have a look at the whole thing....it's one of the most beautiful books I've seen in recent years, and one to treasure. If you're a teacher, your class needs this book.

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The Star Tree, by Catherine Hyde. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title: The Star Tree

Written and illustrated by Catherine Hyde

Published by Frances Lincoln/Quarto Kids

Publication date: 4 August 2016

I have to confess that I'm a bit biased when it comes to Catherine Hyde's work. She illustrated my 2010 version of Firebird, which earned us some fantastic reviews and an Aesop Accolade in the US.

Catherine had already illustrated Carol Ann Duffy's The Princess' Blankets before she worked with me and she went on to team up with Jackie Morris for Evie in the Wild Wood. This, however, is the first book that she has written and illustrated herself.

Here is a dreamy, lyrical story of a girl who makes a wish on the moon. It is midnight on midsummer's eve, a time when all wishes come true. And so starts a magical picaresque journey that will take Miranda from her warm seaside home to the frozen North where the fabulous star tree grows.  She is helped on her way by magical creatures of the night: an owl, a hare, a bear, a stag and finally a silver-feathered goose. Will she find the magical star tree?

Catherine Hyde's pictures are always mesmerising and here she employs a pontillist style to great effect, giving the book a very organic feel. It feels almost like some of the pictures formed naturally on the page, like lichen patterns on old stone or cherry blossom petals on a late-spring lawn. The text, almost a poem, is carefully crafted, inviting you to turn the page and accompany Miranda on her enchanted journey.

All in all this is a wonderful bedtime treat you would want to revisit again and again, both for the story and the enticing pictures.

Saviour Pirotta's next book Ballet Stories for Young Children will be published by Orchard in October 2016. 
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LITTLE EVIE IN THE WILD WOOD, by Jackie Morris and Catherine Hyde. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

• Author: Jackie Morris
• Illustrator: Catherine Hyde
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books (1 Aug 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847803717
• ISBN-13: 978-1847803719

A new Jackie Morris picture book is always something to look forward to.  Her texts, often lyrical and always evocative, have a haunting quality that stays with you for a long time. Her exquisite, detailed, jewel-like illustrations match the text completely, usually providing an extra layer of meaning to the story.

In Little Evie In The Dark Wood, she excels herself with a simple story that takes Little Red Riding
Hood as its starting point but moves in an unexpected and beguiling direction.  Little Evie, dressed in a red coat, skips over the stile at the end of the path and enters the unchartered territory of the wild wood.  She has with her a picnic basket.  The animals in the wood all sound a warning, but who is Evie likely to run into and what will happen when she does?

The beautiful text is a perfect foil for Catherine Hyde's illustrations, broad canvasses full of earthy tones that hum with life and colour.  A perfect little treat of a book.  Read it at bedtime or take with you on a picnic and share in the great outdoors.

Saviour Pirotta

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