Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Shy Willow by Cat Min

THERE WAS ONCE A RABBIT NAMED WILLOW.

WILLOW DIDN'T LIKE BEING OUTSIDE.

There were cars speeding by and soccer balls to dodge out there. But one day something novel happened inside: a blue envelope slipped through the mail slot into her house. Willow read the letter.

Dear Moon,

It's my Mom's birthday tomorrow. If you're not too busy, could you shine your brightest at midnight?

(Signed) Theo in the purple house on Eris Street.

It was a very sweet request, but Willow knew that someone was going to have to make a personal delivery of the letter. Who? And how?

WILLOW COULDN'T DO IT. ...COULD SHE?

She tries jumping with her strong rabbity legs, but falls far short. She climbs a tree, she hitches a ride on the back of a bird, but all those efforts, er, fall short.

But with a little storybook magic, Willow finds a way to deliver Theo's letter, and that night at midnight... a bright and full Moon comes down and shines right over Theo's house.

THEO AND HIS MOM SEE THE MOON!

Employing soft, wispy mixed media, Min creates gentle scenes give a dreamy quality that befits this tale of courage and empathy with a stranger that brings a new friendship.

Where there's a will, there's ... Willow! in Cat Min's brand-new Shy Willow (Levine Querido, 2021), a gentle fantasy with illustrations striking enough to make this gentle story a moving read-aloud and a message that venturing forth into the world to help someone is well-worth the telling in this self-absorbed world. A special story for a special child.

Says Publishers Weekly, "Employing watercolor and colored pencil, Min creates gentle scenes—the most striking of which are wordless—that radiate with hints of sunset pink, lending a luminous quality that befits this earnest tale of bravery begetting self-realization."