The Hidden World of Gnomes

In this charming guidebook to gnomes and gnome-dom, Soloy introduces, via a lunar calendar year, an ethos of being at home in the natural world. Digital spreads that suggest loose ink lines and gouache show the world from a gnome’s-eye view: just shy of the height of a snowdrop. Their tiny bodies are rounded, and their faces, portrayed with varying skin tones, peer out from hoods in a world populated with acorns, ferns, and mushrooms. Some pages describe individual gnomes (“Burley Bell is the doctor. She is always busy tending to various animals, insects and plants”), while others describe activities (“Snail Stacking”), particular moons (the “Bursting Moon” heralds harvest), and varied pleasures (“The joy of tapping a stick”). The cooperative gnomes take time to celebrate, muse on the mysterious, and sing and dance and play, and this idyll invites readers to “see the magic in the world” as gnomes do. Ages 3–7. (June)