Rainbees & Honeybows: A Vancouver Island Fairytale
Written and illustrated by Wendy Picken
This is the story of a tiny, unusual heroine —a damselfly-mouse-bird-moth-frog-beetle—in her quest for her origin story. She rhymes and sings and journeys with friends she meets along the way.
Written and illustrated by Wendy Picken
Calligraphy by Lorraine Douglas
Book design by Peggy Cady, Cady Graphics
Printed by Friesens Corporation, Altona MB
Mango Smile Books 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9810675-1-3
Price: $25.00 + shipping
Gramma’s Pearl Soup and Grampa’s Mango Smile
By Wendy Picken
This is story of hopes and dreams and the seasons of life.
What’s Pearl Soup? It’s a very special soup.
Gramma tells me its made with “pearls that come from
her heart and she stirs in all her hopes and dreams for me…”
“It’s light hearted, but the message of ‘no matter what
happens I’ll always love you’ is pretty universal
— it’s what we all want.” – Wendy Picken
Children’s book, For ages 6, 7, 8 to 108.
Mango Smile Books 2008, Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-0-9810675-0-6
Price: $25.00, Free shipping
“Picken manages to strike a fine balance between sentimentality and no-nonsense reality when writing about death. It’s a tremendously difficult thing to do, especially in a book for young readers. The skill with which this is handled reminds me of the Robert Munsch’s classic, Love You Forever.”
– Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist, 2008
“Through the eyes of a little girl visiting her grandparents, the book’s characters and pictures illuminate the importance of roots that nourish imagination, allow confidence to flower and provide stability through life’s changes.”
– McNally Robinson Booksellers.
“In the time-honoured tradition of Alice’s Adventures and Peter Pan, artist Wendy Picken takes us on a flight of fantasy and whimsy across southern Vancouver Island. She has created an enchanting tale, and given it wings with her lush and beautiful paintings. This book is destined to become a treasured classic and much-loved family read-aloud.”
—Leslie Gentile, winner of the 2021 Victoria Children’s Book Prize