Thanks to friends at Penguin Random House Canada, I have the pleasure of talking about author-illustrator Rebecca Green’s new children’s title, Henri & Miko: Autumn in Bosk Olivette. Happy reading!
Author and illustrator Rebecca Green is a name you may recognize in children’s literature from titles such as How to Make Friends with a Ghost, or Kafka and the Doll (written by Larissa Theule). In Henri & Miko: Autumn in Bosk Olivette, readers are most warmly welcomed into a luscious fall farm-scape, “a stretch of woods known Bosk Olivette”, where by “the golden leaves of a lone black maple tree” resides a cider press where friends Henri, a mouse, and Miko, a bee, have made a fabulous, inviting home.
In panels that tell readers story about Henri and Miko’s Leaf Day and The Scare, we almost immediately feel the glowing hearts of Bosk Olivette and its characters. Henri and Miko are best friends and roommates: curious and enamoured of their world in the woods, their kind and helpful friends, and the beautiful fall world around them. Readers may fall very much in love with this larger-than-life wooded corner of the world: where everyone helps put together “a real cinema party” in delightful costumes; where kernels of popcorn are almost as big as Miko; and where Henri asks everyone to look to the “even stars…and the moon” as they twinkle and shine.
Truly glorious in its scope- from the smallest panels and side vignettes to full-page fold-out spreads; from poetry to recipes and how to draw Miko in costume; from the opening pages that bring us to Phelps County Orchard to the final pages where Henri and Miko see the first fall of snowflakes- Autumn in Bosk Olivette is marvellous at every level. Autumn in Bosk Olivette is a splendid mix of picture book with graphic-style panel presentations and lovely forays into cookery and autumnal poetry. An impressive series opener to the Henri & Miko series, with two starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, there is one more picture book just released that is set in this world: Winter in Bosk Olivette. (And yes, I will indeed be featuring a review of that title before long!).
Henri & Miko: Autumn in Bosk Olivette made me happily think of times when I simply felt the coziest and safest while reading, both in the past and more in the present- reminiscing about my repeated readings of Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne; of Kaya Doi’s Chirri and Chirra adventures; exploring Rachel Piercey and Freya Hartas’ Brown Bear Woods; or visiting Lauren Soloy’s Hidden World of Gnomes. For readers of all ages who love any of the aforementioned works, or are simply on the search for the warmest, joy-filled, crème de la crème of cozy, Henri & Miko: Autumn in Bosk Olivette is a must read.
I received a copy of this title courtesy of Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and comments are my own.
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