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Something Wild
Author
Illustrator
Molly Ruttan
Publication Date
February 28, 2023
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction / 2nd − 3rd
Language
English
Format
Picture Book
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Description
Performance jitters lead to some imaginative what ifs before a little girl finds her confidence.
Hannah loves to play her violin--as long as no one is watching. On the day of the recital, she's wishing something wild would happen so she won't have to go. Perhaps a dolphin will jump out of the fountain and carry her away, or a giant rabbit will abscond with her violin. Hannah's big imagination dreams up all kinds of entertaining scenarios that could change the course of her day, but what actually happens is the most amazing of all!
Children and grown-ups alike will relate to Hannah's stage fright and get a laugh out of all her wishful thinking. Most importantly, they will be right there beside her on recital day when something wild--and beautiful--happens.
Publication date
February 28, 2023
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593112342
Lexile Measure
480
Publisher
Nancy Paulsen Books
BISAC categories
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV031040 - Juvenile Fiction | Performing Arts | Music
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV031040 - Juvenile Fiction | Performing Arts | Music
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Concerts
Stage fright
Concerts
Stage fright
Kirkus
Starred Review
The familial closeness continues throughout the book, which combines sweetness, imagination, and gentle humor.
ALA/Booklist
This is sure to strike a chord with kid musicians, and the encouragement of family and rewards of following passions are heartening and reassuring notes to end on.
Publishers Weekly
A young violinist triumphs over stage fright in a vividly illustrated picture book that visualizes imaginative flights. Dreading performing for an audience at her violin recital, pale-skinned Hannah wishes something "wild" would happen "so she wouldn't have to go." Her imagination supplies outrageous scenarios--birds whisk away her performance togs, a rabbit steals her violin, a dolphin carries her off--but Hannah nevertheless soon finds herself onstage, where "her stomach clenched,/ her legs wobbled,/ and her heart pounded." But when she starts to play for the diverse audience, she has the most "wonderfully" wild experience of all as natural images grow up around her, rooting her right where she is. Balls of golden light and speckles of white stardust add ethereal vibes to Ruttan's movement-filled mixed-media illustrations, while visceral text that employs a participatory refrain focuses the story on the emotional roller coaster of live performance. Ages 3-7. (Feb.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission. Molly Ruttan
Molly Ruttan (mollyruttan.com) wrote and illustrated The Stray, and is the illustrator of Violet and the Crumbs: A Gluten-Free Adventure and I Am a Thief (both by Abigail Rayner). She grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, earned a BFA in graphic design from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, and established a career as a graphic designer and illustrator in Los Angeles. She is married to her childhood friend and music producer, Gabriel Moffat. In addition to illustrating, drawing, painting, and writing, and parenting three daughters, Molly works part-time as a freelance graphic designer. She played violin as a child, and now plays drums and sings in the eclectic-folk rock band New Garden; creates artwork for, records, and performs as a backup singer and percussionist in the progressive art rock band Phideaux (bloodfish.com); and is a member of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music's adult choir Silverlake Singers. Her life is full of music, family, friends, and all kinds of pets. She delights in all forms of creativity and life.
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