Risa Hugo – illustratör

In the forests and fields, beside rivers and creeks, under the earth and hidden in trees, food is waiting to be found … if you know where to look!Follow the footsteps of our ancestors as they head out on the quiet hunt, looking for roots and leaves, mushrooms and berries, fruits, flowers, nuts and seeds. But foraging is about more than just food – our ancestors also helped spread seeds and spores, took only what they needed, and gave thanks to the plants and animals that sustained them. Today, in our cities and towns, the quiet hunt looks a little different. But we can still gather our tools and follow the paths our ancestors took to find what grows in our own backyards.This lyrical story-poem from award-winning author Jean E. Pendziwol is a celebration of foraging that inspires an appreciation of found food, encourages our connection with nature and sparks our awareness of responsible environmental stewardship.Key Text FeaturesillustrationsCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Into a world where it often seems nobody is listening comes a poignant story that celebrates the power of silence.“Why are you so quiet?” Her teacher implores it, her classmates shout it, even her mom wonders it. Everyone, it seems, is concerned for Myra Louise. So, in search of an answer to the tiresome question nobody will stop asking, she invents a listening machine. If the raindrops, or the crickets, or the dryers at the laundromat can tell her why they’re so quiet, maybe Myra Louise can finally make everybody understand. But the more she listens, the less interested she becomes in finding any answer at all. Because Myra Louise comes to realize that all she really needs is someone else to listen alongside her.With gorgeous illustrations from Risa Hugo, Jaclyn Desforges’s first picture book champions introversion and the value of being a listener, a thinker, and an observer in our increasingly loud world.