Marije Tolman brings readers cozy scenes of family and warmth with Quill the Forest Keeper, which was originally published in the Netherlands and is translated into English by David Colmer. At the story’s present-day start, the woods are clean, the air is cold and it smells like hot blueberry pie indoors, where a family of hedgehogs asks Grandpa to tell them about the past.
Grandpa launches into a tale of the long-ago Terrible Rush Era, when animals were always busy and never stopped: “Everything and everyone had to be higher, faster, further, bigger, prettier, more!” But one hedgehog named Quill enjoyed taking it easy, resting in the sun, paddling on the water and cleaning up everyone else’s trash along the way. With compassion, Quill tended to the mountains, the woods and the sea.
One day, however, Quill collapses from the fatigue of constantly taking care of everyone else’s mess. His concerned neighbors help him get back up, and Quill goes home and sleeps through the winter. Soon, the animals begin rushing about again—but this time they also get busy tending to their surroundings and cleaning up after themselves. When Quill wakes, he sees the woods cleaner than he has ever seen them, and his “prickles shook with a shiver of joy.” After presenting him with a gold rake, the animals declare him the official Forest Keeper.
Tolman’s exquisite mixed-media illustrations, with meticulous linework and colors that sparkle, are superimposed upon monochromatic photos of the Scottish Highlands. There’s a visual richness and spaciousness to these spreads, and Tolman includes eye-catching details to delight her young audience: a penguin holding a cell phone, rhinos in shades and an alligator in a winter hat and scarf. It all adds up to a playful and openhearted examination of community, consumption and the value of a life lived slowly and deliberately, with care for the natural world.
As Grandpa wraps up Quill’s story, the hedgehog family heads into the sunshine, leaving readers wanting to head right back to the beginning of this charming Dutch import.
