I saw a reader copy online called, The Voice in the Hollow. “Oh, isn’t that sweet.” I thought. “A little critter is going to hear the voice of the wind, nature, other animals, all the above as they go on a cold, winter walk” (or maybe no cold, but it did look blustery). And boy was I wrong. And right. It was sweet, just not that kind of sweet.
Our young character, Hubert, (who I fell in love with because of the name) is a reader. They love to be in the library. But one day it closed early due to a storm. And to get home as quickly as possible, they must go through the Hollow. No big deal, but it is big and a bit scary. But magically a woman appears, and says she will walk with him. Their journey has some fun and twists and turns. But when they arrive at the end, the woman is missing. What happened? Well, a new story did!
Will Hillenbrand made a wintery, spooky story. And they illustrated it with sweet, but not sugary, art. There is also a hint of the possible ghost story. They are not bursting with color or details, but things are not skimped on. Especially at the end, when young Hubert is home, with his family and all the siblings (and I mean all the siblings, they are rabbits after all). This page is also fun as it is old school, classical looking.
Currently available, I am thinking you need to go out buy about a dozen copies as this book will be getting a lot of press and awards and then, it will be too late to tell everyone you knew it first!