The Wildest Thing by Emily Winfield Martin (The Imaginaries; The Wonderful Things You Will Be) splendidly depicts one quiet girl's dream of "wild things" welcomed into her heart and home.
Eleanor "dreamed of things... with fur and fin./ And when the/ sun came up/ the Wild had come in." Bunnies hop through her bedroom, squirrels skitter through her kitchen, and her couch has turned into a bear. But Eleanor wants to be wild, too, so she flutters her wings, hides in a den, and howls. Deer, foxes, and wolves all join Eleanor for tea and cake, after which she pounces, hops, and "prowl[s] around the room." She flips, flops, unfurls, and she "bloom[s]!" As night falls Eleanor takes a tumble, after which she's ready for her bath (with a swan and cygnets, a bunny, and some fish nearby, of course) and climbs into bed under a full moon, where "in the place between awake/ and dreams not yet begun," she hears a voice that loves her say, "Good night, my wild one."
This idyllic story springs to life through Martin's radiant colored pencil, gouache, and acrylic art, wherein daytime pastels are bookended by the deep blues and greens of magical night. The author/illustrator's ravishing art, soft and sweet, yet solid and precise builds a believably whimsical world in which Eleanor's adventures come alive. Martin's rhyming text has a gentle cadence that rises and falls as the wonders of Eleanor's day unfold, making The Wildest Thing a delightful dream of creativity, imagination, and getting wild. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author