I love Julie Kangas’ illustrations in The Surprise Visitor (2005). The copyright page says, ``The artwork was prepared using ink, watercolor, and oil wash.” Julie Kangas paints sweet little animals in a forest.
First, we meet Edgar, a mouse dressed in sweater vest and bowtie. A round, blue, speckled object blows against his front door and the story is about Edgar’s search for a family to adopt it. We stroll through luscious landscapes of clover, pebbles, and flowers in which live softly rendered bunnies, squirrels, a tortoise, and bird. The animals are handsomely dressed in patterned shawls and vests. Exquisitely rendered pinecones hang from fir trees. An earthy palette of browns and greens gains energy from dashes of deep blue, golds, rustic reds, and purple.
Much of the text is dialogue between the forest creatures. Although I prefer narrative that is more poetic and linguistically challenging, this is an adorable story sure to entertain the preschool child.
