Selected Reviews for The Secret Fawn

Dolly Parton Imagination Library Pick!

KIRKUS - Starred Review

Is the little child who narrates the book too little for any fun?

This gentle tale goes straight to the heart of what upsets so many little ones: missing out on adventures because they are small and young. The beginning double-page spread shows three family members staring out over a full clothesline as the text reads: “This morning, Mama saw a deer. Dad and Sara saw it too.” The narrator missed the sight while struggling to get dressed. The child recounts other examples of recently missed opportunities, then heads outside with a lump of sugar, hoping to lure the deer. Gorgeous, masterful art in MacKay’s characteristic layered dioramas that combine drawn figures with cut, often diaphanous elements accompanies every page of spare but thoughtful text, as the child encounters other signs of nature—but no deer. When the narrator encounters the fawn of the title—“Little like me”—the two greet each other with their eyes before returning home to their respective mothers. The child looks about 3 years old and perhaps too young to be allowed a wilderness wander near protective animal mothers, but the soft and dreamy tone of the art and the text excuses the story from complete realism. The child’s response to Mama’s question at the end gives further empowerment to the child, who looks and listens while someone older reads this aloud. The family is an interracial one, with White-presenting father and Asian-presenting mother. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Sweet and pretty for bedtime or naptime—and validating to little ones all the time. (Picture book. 3-5)

Shelf Awareness

The younger-sibling lament "I miss all the fun" gets a fresh, visually flourishing workup in Kallie George and Elly MacKay's The Secret Fawn, in which a girl finds a way to redress the perceived injustice of having been born second. "This morning, Mama saw a deer. Dad and Sara saw it too./ But I didn't.... I always miss everything." It's a bitter pill for a kid who wasn't tall enough to pick the first apple from a tree--her older sister had that honor. And guess which sister was robbed of the chance to see some shooting stars because of her early bedtime? Determined to spot that deer, the narrator heads outside and starts looking. After several false alarms--she sees a flash of brown, but it's only a dog, and so on--she plunks down on the grass and waits. Her patience is rewarded with a sight more meaningful than a deer: "A fawn.... Quiet as a whisper. Little like me."

 George (Wings of Olympus) imbues The Secret Fawn with an air of enchantment, and yet to create her dazzling art, MacKay (Red Sky at Night) turns to media no more mystical than ink on paper. The book's sun-kissed earth tones seem to sit on the page in three dimensions, practically inviting the reader to touch, say, a whorl of dog fur. The pixie-dusted mood lingers when the girl returns home, where her mother asks if she has seen the deer. The girl shakes her head--"Because I didn't," she thinks. "I saw its fawn." Forsaking bragging rights: Isn't that a mark of maturity? Discover: In this quietly resplendent picture book, a younger sibling who has missed out on seeing a deer sets off alone in search of one.