Book Giveaway: HOPE IS A HOP by Katrina Moore

Katrina Moore has a new picture book, HOPE IS A HOP, illustrated by Melissa Iwai and published by Dial Books for Young Readers. It will hit bookshelves on March 7, 2023. Katrina has agreed to send a copy to the one lucky winner in the US.

Just leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Let me know other things you did to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or reblogging really helps spread the word about a new book. So, thanks for helping Katrina and Melissa.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you every day, please let me know when you leave a comment and I’ll give you an extra ticket. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Just in time for Easter, a moving exploration of hope, from its resilient roots to its sprouting—and surprising!—possibilities.

When Eva’s hopes for a cheerful flower garden are dashed by a rascally—and hungry! —rabbit, she sinks into despair. But it’s from this new vantage point that she discovers something surprising and wonderful about her four-legged-nemesis that reminds Eva of her own growing family and inspires her to try again.

Told in sweet, lyrical verse, and accompanied by the tenderest illustrations, Hope is a Hop shares a powerful message and the heart-tugging illustrations and bunny rabbit motif make it a natural pick for Easter gifting.

BOOK JOURNEY:

HOPE IS A HOP sprouted during a time where I, and the world, really needed hope—for a better tomorrow, for a healthier world, and for brighter times. It was the summer of 2020. Things were scary on a global level, and personally, there were also devastating things occurring. All of it was out of my control, yet affected me. So I felt a heaviness. Because of this, I wanted—needed to find light to carry on, and carry through.

Then, one day, as I was playing outside with my children in the backyard, we discovered that our dogs were particularly interested in a patch of grass. When we went to investigate, we found a nest of baby bunnies, carefully covered with tumbleweed, burrowed in the middle of our backyard. We called our local wildlife rescue center to find out the best way to proceed with letting these wild bunnies be nurtured safely by their mama, and also keep them safe from our curious dogs. We ended up letting them share our space, and kept a close eye (from a safe distance) on their development. Oh, how my children loved them! They named them, hopped with them, and even let them enjoy our garden treats when they wandered that way.

Watching my children take such  care and interest in the bunnies brought me such joy. It made me realize that even when things feel dark and heavy, there’s always light, if only we can keep our eyes and hearts open enough to find it, nurture it, and help it to grow. And that little bit of light—brought on by backyard bunnies, was the seed that grew into HOPE IS A HOP.

I wanted to turn that powerful feeling—of hope and surprise, and newfound joy, into a picture book. So I wondered, what does this look like? How will this take shape in a story? As many of my poetic picture book texts begin, I wrote a lot of words. But I began with three: hope, garden, bunny. From there, I just let my mind wander. Let the words weave into other words that sounded nice next to them. And let them all live together on that page, without structure. Without rules. Without confines. This method of brainstorming allows me to be more playful and free, which I find necessary to begin a story. Once my page was filled, I went through, and circled words that I definitely wanted to include in the book. Maybe they sounded extra lovely, or evoked the right mood, or felt thematically perfect. Next, I wrote it out as a poem.

Surprisingly—perhaps because it was one I needed to write so badly, and also one that I had such strong inspiration to write—it came out pretty quickly, and in pretty close shape to its final published version.

Shortly after I wrote it, I had a phone call with my editor at Dial/Penguin Young Readers. When she acquired my picture book, SOMETIMES LOVE, earlier that year, it was as a two book deal. So we were discussing the potential second book that we would publish together. I had planned to discuss other picture book texts that were ready, as I had JUST finished writing HOPE IS A HOP earlier that day, and didn’t know what would become of it yet. But as we were talking about the next book (and my other projects), it felt like HOPE IS A HOP was the one that wanted to be told. So I pitched it to her on the spot, and she loved the idea. She asked that my agent send it. So, we did, and it officially was going to become a book!

My editor thought the text was in pretty good shape, so we actually didn’t have many edits. However, the text is only half of the story. Because the text was written as a spare poem, most of the narrative was coming through in the art. In this case, I did have art notes to indicate what was happening, plot-wise, that we left for the illustrator.

Enter Melissa Iwai, illustrator extraordinaire, who joined the team to illustrate HOPE IS A HOP! She brought her own brilliant vision, artistry, and personal touches to the project, which brought to life our fully-blossomed, beautiful book!

KATRINA’S BIO:

Katrina Moore is an author and former elementary educator. She holds a M.A. in Teaching and taught for thirteen years in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. She writes in Georgia, where her mission is to create books that children will hug for ages. She is the author of the picture books, HOPE IS A HOP, SOMETIMES LOVE, ONE HUG, GRANDPA GRUMPS, illustrated by Xindi Yan, and its companion, C companion, GRUMPY NEW YEAR  (Little Bee Books, Dec, 2022), and the forthcoming (Little Bee Books, Dec, 2022), and the forthcoming CHANG’E ON THE MOON, illustrated by Cornelia Li (HarperCollins/Tegen, Fall 2024), and THE STAR IN YOU (Macmillan/Roaring Brook, Fall 2024). She is also the author of the humorous TEENY HOUDINI chapter book series, illustrated by Zoe Si, starring the magic-loving, mayhem-making Bessie Lee in TEENY HOUDINI: THE DISAPPEARING ACT, TEENY HOUDINI: THE SUPER SECRET VALENTINE, and TEENY HOUDINI: THE GIANT PANDA PLAN.

​When she is not writing, she is cooking without a recipe, painting outside the lines, adventuring, or snuggling up with her two kids, husband, pups, and of course, a cozy book. Katrina enjoys traveling near and far to visit schools and students, as well as teachers, librarians, and aspiring writers. Connect with her on twitter @kmoorebooks or at www.katrinamoorebooks.com.

MELISSA’S BIO:

Melissa Iwai is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator of Soup Day, Pizza Day, Dumplings for Lili, and the I Can Read series, Gigi and Ojiji. She has illustrated over forty picture books during her career. Melissa lives in Brooklyn with her husband and Shiba Inu daughter, Nikki. When she’s not painting, she is usually cooking or baking or doing the NY Times crossword puzzle, spelling bee, Kenken, Wordle, or Connections.

Recent Books:

· How This Book Got Red, by Margaret Chiu Greanias, Sourcebooks, 2023

· Gigi and Ojiji: Food For Thought, Harper Collins, 2023, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Book

· Gigi and Ojiji What’s In A Name, Harper Collins, 2023, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Book

· Zen for Kids, Bala Kids, 2023

· Hope is a Hop, Dial Books, 2023

· Gigi and Ojiji, Harper Collins, 2022, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, a Best Book pick of the Chicago Public Library, NY Public Library, and Kirkus

· Dumplings for Lili, Norton Books for Young Readers, an SCBWI Crystal Kite winner 2022, a Charlotte Huck Recommended Book 2022, a Bank Street Best Book 2022, a Chicago Public Library Best Book 2021, a Boston Globe Best Book 2021.

AND GET READY FOR: Gigi and Ojiji: Perfect Paper Cranes, out May 7, 2024

Representation: Christy Ewers at The Cat Agency, Inc.

Website: https://www.melissaiwai.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissaiwai1/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissaiwaiart

Melissa was featured on Illustrator Saturday in 2012. Click here to view.

Katrina, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. At the first sign of Spring Eva is outside working to make a garden. We see her titling the ground, planting seeds. The lovely lyrical text says,

Hope is a seed that is too small to spy,
deep in the dirt that’s deserted and dry.

Eva and her Mom plant vegetables in a bigger garden and they make a scarecrow while Dad mows the lawn and her cat watches from the porch. Katrina paints a sweet idyllic life with her words as Melissa creates beautiful illustrations on every page with her own paint. Finally, the seeds have sprouted and the first bloom opens. Eva is very excited to see the fruits of her labor. Then a bunny hops over to eat the flower and the cat chases the rabbit through the garden and everything is ruined. She runs to the back of the yard to cry under a tree. I love this scene where you see her pregnant Mom sitting on the ground hugging Eva with the dabbled light filtering through the new leaves.

When Eva sees the flower petals in a line, she follows them and discovers a small rabbit nest with four tiny bunnies. Now Eva replants her garden and as her garden grows so do the bunnies. Oh, the joys of spring. Rebirth is everywhere in this book. At the end of the book, you see Mom, Dad, the bunnies, the cat, and a new little baby in Mom’s arms, and Eva cuddling the baby.

The last page leaves the reader with a perfect picture of everyone out in the woods sitting on a blanket, a picnic basket open with food, Mom breastfeeding the baby, and Dad watching Mom and Baby in awe of his beautiful family. Dabbled light coming through the tree covers them, while Eva and the bunnies hop around. This is a perfect book for Spring and Easter. Melissa’s illustrations make Katrina’s lovely story sing. Good luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy