Hector Fox and the Giant Quest (Hector Fox & Friends)

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Okay, I was out of control, yelling at my fellow teacher to look at the brush strokes. “Naomi, this is IT, the real art, and we can see every brush stroke!” Thank you to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for bringing the art of illustrators for all of us to see.

Hector Fox and the Giant Quest is the first in a series of books that follow the Join the gang as they seek adventure, hunt giants, solve mysteries, The main character is a fox and he's not the typical storybook fox — you know, mean and about to eat everybody and and kind of creepy. Hector Fox is very he's kind and — he is smart — but he's kind and he's cultured and has paintings on his walls and just gets along really well with a whole group of animals. Many of them in the natural world would be his prey, but they get along really well. And I would hope that this would encourage children to go outside and go exploring. And when they come across a tree say, "Hey, that could be Hector's tree." Or in the case of this new book, "Oh, there's a feather. What does this feather actually mean? Is there some meaning behind this feather I've just found?" And ask those kind of questions. Those kind of "what if" and then let your imagination go. Along with drawing, I have always loved animals. So being able to take and create this world for a group of anthropomorphic animals that just go on these adventures just felt really — it did feel like coming home and I guess just developing characters that sort of break the stereotype. The illustrations in this story are rich and luscious. I wanted to pet the animals and go on the trip to the woods myself.

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Of course I had to see the other exhibits. One was an illustrator, Christian Robinson. I recognized his art right away. And then…there it was. Gaston! For art lovers, seeing a beloved masterpiece is thrilling. For book lovers who have seen that art hundreds of times reading the book to children, the experience of seeing the original art is tenfold. Hector Fox has his friends over and is reading a fairytale to them. When he finished the story little Lucy Skunk verbalizes that she wishes all fairytales were true. Once her wish is cast it motivates the friends to go on a real, live, giant hunt....just like in the book. They mobilize their group and find themselves at the Forbidden Marsh hoping beyond hope a giant will found. I love the fact that the animals speak English and are dressed in dapper Edwardian clothes. Even though they are all of a different species they love to be together, hang out and read. Their sense of adventure pulls the reader into the story and the depiction of the giant is not scary for young readers. The colour and detail of the illustrations makes you want to frame each one and hang them on your wall. I love being able to share these fun, imaginative stories with children, especially through the illustrations and really letting the illustrations do the telling. With this kind of picture book, you really want the text and the artwork to work hand-in-hand. Like, if you take the illustrations away, the story isn't going to work.

YES! It’s the story of puppies in two very different families. There’s a mix up, an exchange, and dog families who learn that being different is okay. My preschoolers love this book. I do, too. Intricate color illustrations add detail and whimsy to an excellent tale.—Bill Bushnell, centralmaine.com But we did spend a lot of time reading. I was read a lot to out loud when I was little and I loved books, especially picture books. I had difficulty learning to read, with dyslexia issues, so I gravitated naturally to books where the illustrations told the story, where you could just look at the book and the illustrations really carried the narrative. Lucy Skunk wishes that fairytales were real. So Hector Fox and his friends go off in search of the giant in the forest that they've heard rumors about. After all, that's like a fairytale, isn't it? One of her illustrations is a new museum acquisition. It is magnificent! There’s nothing like the ‘real deal’.Yeah, it's just like the child inside of you that imagines you'd be in the forest and all these animals would be your friend and they talk to you, so I totally get that. And I know that your books are catered to young readers, So what is it that you enjoy most about writing and illustrating for children's books?