Hurry Up!

Kate Dopirak (1975–2018) loved walking her puppy, watching her sons play basketball, and convincing her husband to share a cheese plate instead of wings. She also loved to write for kids. Kate was a teacher, a reading specialist, and the Assistant Regional Advisor for Western Pennsylvania SCBWI. Her books include You’re My Boo; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car; and Hurry Up. Visit her at KateDopirak.com.Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning illustrator and author who regularly contributes to The New York Times, The New Yorker, and creates book covers for various publishers. He has directed short animated videos for Kate Spade and Anthropologie and was awarded a medal from the Society of Illustrators for his work in motion graphics. He illustrated the acclaimed picture books Over and Under the Snow and Lifetime, both of which explore the natural world. Over and Under the Snow, with author Kate Messner, was praised for its “stunning retro-style illustrations” (The New York Times), was a 2011 New York Times Editor’s Choice and won an E.B. White Honor Award in 2012. He recently contributed art to the New York Times bestseller Goodnight Songs, which is a collection of poems by author of Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown.

Kids aren’t exempt from fast-paced living, especially not the brown-skinned child who stars in this prescription for downtime by the late Dopirak visualizes its opening words with images of the child dashing down the stairs and out to the bus: “Hurry up!/ Hurry down./ Hurry round and round... and round.”...Out for a walk, child and dog continue at the breakneck pace until “STOP!” appears in large letters across the sky, a message from the universe. A page turn reveals a world transformed and on pause....A long, luxurious afternoon ends at dusk as the pair head home. Neal’s visual pacing takes readers from frenetic activity to solitary moonlit slumber in one smooth arc, embodying the shift to calm that all creatures crave—and need.