Shy Willow

by Cat Min (Author)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

Willow is shy. Very shy. Her home is in an abandoned mailbox, and she'd rather stay put. Outside kids scream and soccer balls collide, trees look like monsters, and rain is noisy in a scary kind of way. It's much nicer to stay inside, drawing.

But then a young boy drops a letter in Willow's mailbox: it's a note to the moon asking for a special favor. Willow knows that if she doesn't brave the world outside, the letter will never be delivered, and the boy will be heartbroken. Should she try? Can she?

Cat Min delivers a breathtakingly illustrated story about shyness, the power of empathy, and what it means to make a friend.

Select format:
Hardcover
$17.99

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
A warm and wondrous adventure for armchair, or high chair, travelers.

Kirkus

Whimsical and charming illustrations (literally) elevate this simple tale. 

School Library Journal

PreS-K--Willow, a white rabbit, lives in an abandoned mailbox where she draws sketches and feels safe from the world. When a letter drops in the mailbox with a special birthday request addressed to the moon from a boy named Theo, Willow knows she must deliver it in spite of her fears. Willow ventures out, testing her courage and making many failed attempts to reach the moon, jumping high, climbing a mountain, and even hitching a ride on a bird. Finally, she sacrifices pages from her sketchbook to fashion a balloon to float up to the moon and successfully deliver the letter. The moon rewards her by fulfilling the request to shine brilliantly for Theo's mother. Willow basks in her deed, and "the warmth of the moonlight spread through Willow's chest." Pencil illustrations provide detail, while soft washes of watercolor in twilight colors of pink, blue, and lavender create a soothing palette, though the outline of Willow in red strikes an odd note. Sketches from Willow's notebook adorn the endpapers and provide a window into Willow's fears and newfound friendship with Theo. VERDICT A shy rabbit shows bravery and ingenuity in a story that addresses shyness and determination. An additional purchase.--Ramarie Beaver, formerly at Plano P.L., TX

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

A timid bunny named Willow must venture outside her comfort zone in Min's quiet, whimsical debut. In an abandoned mailbox decorated with taped-on sketches and flora, shy Willow hides from the noisy and chaotic world outside, her long ears occasionally poking through the mail slot. When an envelope is slipped into her cozy home, Willow discovers it's a letter to the moon from a boy hoping to arrange a surprise for his mother's birthday. Moved by the boy's thoughtfulness, Willow determines to help deliver the message, even if the long journey means she'll need to travel far from the mailbox's security. To reach the moon, she tries jumping, climbing, and even catching a ride on a magnificent phoenixlike bird, until in an act of selflessness, Willow makes a final, improbable attempt that proves successful, slowly propelling the tale to a heartening, if predictable, conclusion. Employing watercolor and colored pencil, Min creates gentle scenes--the most striking of which are wordless--that radiate with hints of sunset pink, lending a luminous quality that befits this earnest tale of bravery begetting self-realization. Ages 4-7. Agent: Maria Vicente, P.S. Literary. (Feb.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Cat Min
Cat Min is an illustrator, animator, and writer. Cat grew up as a shy kid in Hong Kong, where she spent most of her childhood drawing and making comic books out of printer paper and staples with her best friend. She studied animation and film at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and completed the Illustration & Visual Storytelling Summer Residency Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is also a member of SCBWI. Her (not so) guilty pleasures are: McDonald's french fries, sappy romance comics, mobile escape game apps, visual novels, and all things cheese.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781646140350
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Levine Querido
Publication date
February 16, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV002210 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Rabbits
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
Library of Congress categories
Rabbits
Picture books
Courage
Bashfulness

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