Zara González Hoang, a 2002 alumna of the School of Education’s Art Department, has written and illustrated a new picture book, titled “A New Kind of Wild.”
Published by Penguin Random House, the book “celebrates imagination, the magic of friendship, and all the different ways we make a new place feel like home.”
From the publisher’s website:
For Ren, home is his grandmother’s little house, and the lush forest that surrounds it. Home is a place of magic and wonder, filled with all the fantastical friends that Ren dreams up. Home is where his imagination can run wild.
“For Ava, home is a brick and cement city, where there’s always something to do or see or hear. Home is a place bursting with life, where people bustle in and out like a big parade. Home is where Ava is never lonely because there’s always someone to share in her adventures.
“When Ren moves to Ava’s city, he feels lost without his wild. How will he ever feel at home in a place with no green and no magic, where everything is exactly what it seems? Of course, not everything in the city is what meets the eye, and as Ren discovers, nothing makes you feel at home quite like a friend.
“Inspired by the stories her father told her about moving from Puerto Rico to New York as a child, Zara González Hoang’s author-illustrator debut is an imaginative exploration of the true meaning of home.”
“A New Kind of Wild” is most appropriate for children 4-8 years old. Kirkus Reviews praised it as, “A wise and gentle lesson on making and helping friends.”
Learn more on the Penguin Random House website, here.