School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A little girl dressed in a red knit cap enjoys exploring the natural world with her friend White Bunny and yearns to talk to the Moon. So Red Knit Cap Girl and her forest friends stage a celebration complete with handmade paper lanterns and wait for it to come out. When a stray gust of wind blows out a lantern, a star pops out in the sky and the girl and her friends realize what they must do: blow out all the lanterns and sit silently. Indeed, the Moon appears and says, "You have made it dark enough to see me and quiet enough to hear me, Red Knit Cap Girl." This gentle tale of how to appreciate the wonders of the natural world quietly and simply is augmented by the use of wood grain as the medium on which the acrylic, ink, and pencil illustrations are drawn. The artist uses a broad spectrum of soft, seamlessly melded background colors that serve as effective counterpoints to the Red Knit Cap Girl (whose minimalist facial features recall a Joan Walsh Anglund character). An apt choice for bedtime reading, this story affirms the necessity of turning off the light and noise of our busy world to truly recognize the everyday marvels around us.-Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Red Knit Cap Girl's eponymous headwear makes her look like an acorn or a mushroom-right at home in her forest surroundings. She longs to talk to the Moon, and Mr. Owl (whose golden, glowing eyes burning in his dark lair give the story its only tense moment) offers sage advice: "The Moon is too far to reach, but if you want, she will bend down to listen to you." Red Knit Cap Girl enlists the help of a bear, a squirrel, and a hedgehog to carry out her plan to draw the Moon close. In Stoop's first picture book, she paints on plywood, and the wood grain background gives each spread a gentle, wavelike feel and a luxurious sense of texture; subtly graduated hues provide quiet drama. Stoop delivers the message about ingenuity and cooperation in human, not abstract, terms: "You have made it dark enough to see me and quiet enough to hear me," says the Moon when she appears. It's a successful ensemble piece, gorgeously illustrated, in which each character has a part to play. Ages 3-6. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.