North Woods Girl

by Aimee Bissonette, Claudia McGehee (Illustrator)

Overview

“When Grandma tucks her pants into her oversized boots and grabs her walking stick, I run to catch up,” reports a young girl charmed by her visits to Grandma’s north woods home. Their walks take them through the seasons, to a pond with a downed tree just right for sitting, to a garden lush with tomatoes ready for canning, through a snowy nighttime woods where the only sounds are the squeak of boots on snow and the hooting of a distant owl. Whatever the month, there are plenty of woodland critters to observe: squirrels or rabbits or deer, geese or goldeneyes or mergansers. The forest of North Woods Girl is an active, populated place, brought to life by Claudia McGehee’s colorful scratchboard artistry.
 
Time with Grandma teaches about quiet observation, generous sharing of resources, the beauty of the forest and pond at any hour. Grandma is the quintessential north woods girl, breathing deep the piney scents, relishing the chirping activity of her animal neighbors. Small wonder that her admiring granddaughter is inspired to follow in her footsteps. With a tale as understated as Grandma herself, Aimée Bissonette shares a message of appreciating the treasures of our natural surroundings.

Aimée Bissonette is a writer, teacher, and lawyer living in the Twin Cities. This is her first children’s book. Writer-illustrator Claudia McGehee lives in Iowa City. Her previous works include A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet and A Woodland Counting Book. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873519663
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	10/01/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,020,455
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Aimée Bissonette is a writer, teacher, and lawyer living in the Twin Cities. This is her first children’s book.

Writer-illustrator Claudia McGehee lives in Iowa City. Her previous works include A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet and A Woodland Counting Book.

Editorial Reviews

07/20/2015
A girl sings the praises of her grandmother in Bissonette’s children’s book debut, illustrated by McGehee (My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure) in sturdy scratchboard images that underscore the ruggedness of both Grandma and the landscape she loves. Throughout the seasons, the girl and her grandmother, who describes herself as “not a good-looking woman” and wears her late husband’s flannel shirts, enjoy what the woods have to offer. In the spring, that means studying migrating birds (a circular close-up of ducks in a pond lets readers feel like they are peering through binoculars alongside these two “north woods girls”). And in winter, the season they like “best of all,” they take a midnight stroll across a snow-covered field. Tinted with dyes and watercolors, McGehee’s illustrations have the static grace of stained glass, and girl and grandmother take on an almost saintly appearance as they gaze up at a winter moon. It’s a book that celebrates life’s simple, quiet pleasures—from canning summer vegetables to savoring the smell of pine—as well as the importance of sharing them with like-minded souls of any age. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"One of the prettiest and well-written books of the season is narrated by a girl who admires her grandmother for not looking like other grandmas: 'She's bony. And she dresses in Grandpa's old flannel shirts.' But Grandma knows the woods behind her house and where to observe animals and ducks." Pioneer Press

"A celebration of both family and nature with exemplary illustrations." Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2015
K-Gr 3—Bissonette's debut picture book is narrated by a young girl who enjoys the north woods as much as her grandmother does. Every season brings something new to see and do. They listen to frogs by the pond in the spring. They share their tasty canned vegetables in the summer with the neighbors. In the fall, they gather colorful leaves, and in the winter they hike along one of the "hundred little paths in the woods behind Grandma's house." The scratchboard and watercolor artwork enhances the beauty of this heartwarming story about the love this little girl has for nature and her grandmother. The scenes are cozy because of how the starry skies, the wildlife, and the abundance of trees surround the main characters on every page. VERDICT This is a powerful intergenerational story about how a grandmother came to be a role model for her granddaughter.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

School Library Journal

2015-06-29
In this picture book, a young girl from the city periodically visits her grandmother who lives in the north woods. The young narrator tells readers she is thrilled to visit her grandmother even though she "is not like other grandmas...she never bakes cookies or gooey berry pies." What her grandmother does, and what the narrator loves so much, is that she takes long, appreciative rambles in the woods with her granddaughter accompanying her. The narrator describes how she and her grandma look for migrating ducks in the spring, cool off in the deep woods shade in the summer, and hike beneath a full moon in the winter. Bissonette's knowledge of and respect for the natural world are evident, and the story is strongest when it describes this relationship with nature. The contrivance of the beginning and end circularity—"My grandma says she's not a good-looking woman"—comes off as just that, but it is easily overlooked, since the narrator's heartfelt observations of the seasons and admiration of her grandma ring with authenticity. McGehee's scratchboard, watercolor, and dye illustrations are executed with just the right primitive note and add significant appeal to the overall story with their excellent design and expert color sense. A celebration of both family and nature with exemplary illustrations. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews