Hekla and Laki

This strangely moving, legend-like story told in two parts starts with Laki, a very old, blue, hulking creature, whose world is upended when small, child-like, orange Hekla falls into his life “just like the samara of a sycamore tree.” Hekla brings both chaos and meaning to Laki’s existence. Laki sits, head in hand, as Hekla scales a bookcase, knocking things off the shelves. Yet Laki cares deeply about Hekla, and most of all about keeping the tiny creature away from the lake outside: “Not the lake, Hekla,” Laki repeats. When Hekla no longer needs a caretaker, and Laki’s life comes to an end—an event whose mythological dimensions soften the blow—Hekla’s landscape experiences profound changes. Via dynamic, ambitious painting and writing, Schneider doesn’t just create a myth but also imagines geological-level shifts with crystalline intensity. Ages 6–9. (Sept.)