The Invitation

The delicate, startling visual world created in graphite and digitally finished by artist Lafrance (Gemma and the Giant Girl) vaults Fowles’s children’s debut, a tale about real-world anxiety, into the realm of fantasy. Green-tinged, anthropomorphic Fern, who flows with delicate fronds, receives a mailed envelope that gives her pause. Instead of feeling better when it turns out to be not “bad news” but an invitation to a museum’s “super special surprise exhibition,” she continues to worry, citing a dislike of surprises and concerns about arriving on time. Sunny, confident Fawn offers to attend with her and quells her fears: if they’re running late, “We’ll ask a friendly chipmunk for a shortcut through the forest.” Fern’s worries and Fawn’s reassurance take over the plot as the two head to the event. If a tree blocks their way, Fawn declares, a grumpy bear will clear it; if the bear gets hungry, they’ll give it cake; if the bear gets a toothache, they’ll find a “brave dentist.” In related images, sweets hang temptingly from an evergreen, and a fashionably dressed human dentist, portrayed with brown skin, checks the bear’s teeth. Despite the invitation’s promise, there’s no big reveal at the end; the journey proves its own surprise as hope and whimsy lighten the force of worries, and Fern learns to work with her anxiety. Ages 3–6. (Apr.)