Gwendolyn and the Light

“In a night forest by the sea,/ the moon had the stars,/ the trees had the breeze,/ but Gwendolyn was all alone.” Via loose, generously stroked paintings filled with organic life forms, Weber (The Wind and the Clover) shows the book’s big-eyed, lumpy yellow protagonist in a tree. A star-bright glow that Gwendolyn notices one morning, warm and splendid, seems to offer the creature the friendship that she desires, and she sets off in a boat, “a biscuit in tow,” to see if she can reach the elusive light. As she goes, she counts the stars, soon joined by a comradely sea bird with a blue head and an incessant numerical cry (“Twee!”). In dreamy, lilting lines, Yoon (Waiting for Tomorrow) conveys the protagonist’s path to realizing that the bird, not the light, is the friend she seeks. The creators show rather than tell as a great storm rolls up, depicted with swirls and bursts of foam, and Gwendolyn loses track of the bird. The joy she feels upon encountering it again tells her what she needs to know in a work that illuminates the difference between admiration and companionship. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Oct.)