Kate Hoefler

This might not be a perfect picture book but I believe the topic is important and I found the art work to be quite wonderful. Kate Hoefler’s realistic and poetic picture book debut is about the myth of rowdy, rough-riding cowboys and cowgirls and how really, in many ways, the myth of rowdy, rough-riding cowboys is a projection of Hollywood stereotypes. I found this picture book to be a timely and multifaceted portrayal that reveals a lifestyle that is as diverse and quite contrary to what we've come to expect. I love that Kate depicts cowboys and girls as gentle to animals, poets, and artists - because in many ways, that's what cowboys (and girls) are. This book fights against the narrative of toxic masculinity. An important book for kids to read. Perfect for 5 . This book teaches the values of being patience, gentle, and creative.… (mer)

Told from two perspectives—the townsfolk and the "witches" haunting the nearby woods—this unconventional picture book examines the dangers of making assumptions, and of allowing fear to cloud our judgment. As the townsfolk describe the fearsome things they witness, from a procession of witches entering the forest with their brooms to the sight of them flying through the air, the actual people they are seeing describe their nighttime kite-flying expeditions. When finally the two groups meet, misunderstanding is put to rest...

Published earlier this year (2023), In the Dark is the second collaboration between author Kate Hoefler and illustrator Corinna Luyken, after their 2020 Nothing in Common. As it happens, I sought it out because I have enjoyed some of Luyken's other work, and because I was intrigued by the theme of witches who aren't witches, given my interest in witchy picture book fare. I think that the central idea here—that we can leap to the wrong conclusion, based on insufficient information and shallow first impressions—is one that is good to explore, and I appreciated the fact that the author and illustrator chose to center their story around witches, as accusations of witchcraft against unconventional or even difficult women was an all-too-common occurrence, in ages past. I also liked the way in which the book was designed—the spine is at the top, and the wide pages are made to be turned upward, as one reads it—and thought the artwork, made using ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, pencil and colored pencil, was well-suited to the tale, emphasizing the sense of mystery throughout. All this said, somehow I found that the whole here didn't speak as strongly to me as I had hoped. Although I understand that the idea here is to highlight the two perspectives, I think the text was too abbreviated to really get involved, emotionally speaking. Tastes vary, of course, so other picture book readers might feel differently. I'd recommend this one primarily for personal or one-on-one reading, given the unusual physical parameters of the book, and the thoughtful ideas being explored, as I think it is too complex a book for a successful story hour with a group.… (mer)

An eloquent response to anyone with a simplistic picture of the cowboy as a rough, tough working man and nothing else.

Rough, tough, and hardworking they definitely are—but so much more besides: “Their work is to think of others,” writes Hoefler, from neighbors to “the calf stranded on the ridge.” They are gentle, to keep the cattle calm. They know how to listen and to stay safe, and even on a fast horse they “move with the slow rhythm of a herd.” They suffer losses and, echoing the revelation about pirates in Mem Fox’s classic, stereotype-busting Tough Boris, illustrated by Kathryn Brown (1994), “Real cowboys cry.” They take turns, they make art, they dream. More cosmically, “they wonder what’s past the horizon.” And when their work is done, the author concludes, “they find out.” In contrast to his typically bright, cleanly drawn style, Bean illustrates this cowboy paean in a digital stenciling technique that leaves low-contrast layers of shapes—some of these too indistinct to resolve easily. Moreover, though his figures properly diversify when he comes to the text “Real cowboys are as many different colors as the earth. Real cowboys are girls, too,” he rather misses the point by depicting all the cowboys on the other pages, so far as can be told, as generically light-skinned and apparently male.

A positively inspirational unpacking of a traditional role model, hobbled but not entirely unhorsed by its illustrations. (Picture book. 6-9)

-Kirkus Review… (mer)