Karl James Mountford

Withdrawn and weighted down by a sorrow she cannot communicate, Rat is unable confide in her friend Jackdaw in this emotionally resonant and visually striking picture book from author/illustrator Karl James Mountford. Setting out into the midst of a storm, she runs and runs, bumping into her friend Hedgehog, and then finding herself surrounded by Snake. Almost convinced to give up, she is spurred to run on by a crack of lightning, eventually encountering Bear. This ursine friend takes Rat show more into his keeping, and draws her out, getting her to express her feelings, and to use the noise of the storm as a model to expel some of her grief and sorrow and rage. Eventually, Bear returns Rat to Jackdaw, and the friend embrace...

Although I have read and greatly enjoyed a number of books illustrated by Mountford—Ellie Hattie's The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth, Maudie Powell-Tuck's Last Stop on the Reindeer Express—A Voice in the Storm is the first book I have encountered where he was both author and illustrator. I found it to be absolutely lovely. I appreciated the glimpse it offered of deep, compelling and difficult-to-express negative emotions, and how it used the storm, both as metaphor and event, to explore how one might handle those emotions. I also appreciated the digitally-created artwork, with its stylized figures and gorgeous color palette, and its use of colored paper. I don't know that this quite as good as Shaun Tan's The Red Tree, which offers the best picture book exploration of depression that I've ever seen, but it is certainly outstanding in that regard, and well worth seeking out. show less

Such a beautiful book. When Fox comes across Bird, who does not respond to anything and seems "broken," he has trouble understanding until Moth helps explain death in a way that is empathetic and simple and complicated all at the same time. No matter what you believe about death, this book offers a truism: what we can do for the dead is to remember them, and to be there for each other. The art further gives the story the feeling of a folktale, with a limited color palette layered like a show more screenprint. The world is a mix of organic and geometric shapes, and the characters are portrayed in black and gray. show less

Jackdaw is worried about their friend Rat. Rat hasn’t been herself lately, instead acting very quiet and withdrawn. And to make matters worse, a big storm is brewing. Rat runs away because she’s sad and confused. She runs right into the storm. At one point Rat almost allows a snake to eat her but realizes this won’t help her. She then runs, literally, into Bear who understands Rat and helps her. Together they weather the storms, the one outside and the one inside.

What seems to be a show more children’s picture book, is a story about opening up and asking for help when we are sad or depressed. Mountford portrays asking for help as brave, and lets readers know that our friends and family are always there and willing to help. This is much more than just a picture book.

The illustrations are unique in color and style–purples, blues and greens, sharp edges, and fantastical fauna. The author/illustrator has a very distinctive style that is both eye-catching and soothing. show less

This is a wonderful book, both in content and illustrations. In addition, the cover is beautiful.

A fox awakes to the sound of birds singing for all to hear. He thought this sound was different than their usual music in that it wasn't happy or sad -- is was simply different.
Following the different sound, the journey took him across water, past an old house, woods with a lot more stumps than trees, and led to a place of flowers where the birds where gathered silently.
And when they left, there show more was a bird that was not moving. Curious regarding why the bird was silently still, a moth noticed his interest and explained that the bird simply wasn't here anymore.
Sitting quietly with the non-moving bird, the moth then moved and made a circle in the sky.

Using a beautiful analogy of the fact that when the sun goes down, and the moon rises, the sun isn't there, but the light is so bright, even on dark nights, the sun reflects in the moon. Thus, we can remember that the sun was once here.

The fox was very sad that the bird would not be with them. Noting that the moon will always remember the sun, the moth taught the fox a lesson about the cycle of life and the importance of remembrance.

Stunningly beautiful in cover, illustrations and content, this is a very special book to be added to my favorite illustrated books.

Highly Recommended

Five Stars show less