Wake Up, Island
In a picture book for all ages, lyrical language and elegant woodcuts celebrate the waking natural world on a North Woods island
Wake up, little one, a soft voice beckons, the world around you is already stirring. As Wake Up, Island gently rouses the sleepy child, it summons a world of nature coming to life on a summer island in the magical North Woods. Sunlit fingers touch the shores, pine trees stretch their limbs, and lichen warms on ancient rock. Doe and fawn rise from their grass bed and pearls of dew bead a spider's finely woven web. Mallards skim the water's surface. Ravens perch and gargle greetings, chickadees call dee, dee, dee, and a heron swoops—minnows flee! The moose and her calf wade, munching on plants. The red squirrel chatters. The black bear lazily scratches her back against a tree.
Mary Casanova grew up in a camp-like atmosphere on the edge of St. Paul, with parents who regularly packed the station wagon to capacity—ten kids and the family dog—and headed “up north” to a cabin. Mary is the author of One-Dog Canoe and thirty other books. Several of them—including Moose Tracks, Wolf Shadows, When Eagles Fall, and most recently Frozen—are published by the University of Minnesota Press. These books, frequently found on state reading lists across the country, have earned countless awards such as the ALA “Notable,” Parent’s Choice “Gold” Award, Booklist Editor’s Choice, and two Minnesota Book Awards. She lives with her husband and three dogs in a turn-of-the-century house in Ranier, Minnesota.
Nick Wroblewski is an artist and printmaker specializing in handmade woodcut block prints. He prints from his home studio in the Driftless region of Wisconsin. A native of Minnesota, he enjoyed reflecting on a landscape very close to his heart while illustrating this book.
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