Little Blue

Waif-like Will finds Little Blue when his stick hits her shoe as she lies in her house of leaves. The pretty blue girl is lost. She and Will then take turns in describing where they live as they journey through the countryside towards Will’s cottage where there is an unexpected homecoming for them both.

The short spare text is confined within small boxes on the page, allowing Gaye Chapman full rein to sketch upon the sky, Little Blue’s stylised, mostly monochrome and confined willow pattern world, contrasting with Will’s Rackhamesque enchanted forest landscapes fecund with dewy details of flowers, fruit and fungi. These splendid illustrations show and elaborate upon what is said in the text and reward revisiting, not only to savour their detail but to discover fresh insights about the story.