The Invitation
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Stacey May Fowles’ debut picture book is a whimsical, warmhearted story of how a super-special surprise can lead to anxiety — or invite imagination.
One beautiful fall day, Fern opens her mailbox and finds an envelope. After much worrying about what it could possibly contain, her friend Fawn encourages her to open it. Inside, she finds an invitation to a super-special surprise at the museum — but Fern doesn’t like surprises!
Luckily, Fawn offers to come with her to the party. What could possibly happen, he asks. Along the way, Fern voices her worries: What if they can’t make it in time? What if they don’t know anyone there?
Fawn playfully follows his friend's way of thinking, while gently suggesting twists to her story and a fun new cast of characters — the chipmunk who could show them a shortcut, the grumpy bear who could clear their path, the brave dentist who might treat the bear’s toothache — until at last they arrive, and Fern is able to enjoy the wonderful surprise happening around her.
Marie Lafrance’s delightfully dreamy illustrations bring the imagined world of Fern and Fawn to life in this super-special story about catastrophic thinking.
Key Text Features
illustrations
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The delicate, startling visual world created in graphite and digitally finished by artist Lafrance (Gemma and the Giant Girl) vaults Fowles's children's debut, a tale about real-world anxiety, into the realm of fantasy. Green-tinged, anthropomorphic Fern, who flows with delicate fronds, receives a mailed envelope that gives her pause. Instead of feeling better when it turns out to be not "bad news" but an invitation to a museum's "super special surprise exhibition," she continues to worry, citing a dislike of surprises and concerns about arriving on time. Sunny, confident Fawn offers to attend with her and quells her fears: if they're running late, "We'll ask a friendly chipmunk for a shortcut through the forest." Fern's worries and Fawn's reassurance take over the plot as the two head to the event. If a tree blocks their way, Fawn declares, a grumpy bear will clear it; if the bear gets hungry, they'll give it cake; if the bear gets a toothache, they'll find a "brave dentist." In related images, sweets hang temptingly from an evergreen, and a fashionably dressed human dentist, portrayed with brown skin, checks the bear's teeth. Despite the invitation's promise, there's no big reveal at the end; the journey proves its own surprise as hope and whimsy lighten the force of worries, and Fern learns to work with her anxiety. Ages 3–6.
