Jorey Hurley studied art history at Princeton, received her law degree at Stanford, and studied design at FIT. She worked as a textile designer for Hable Construction in New York City and is now based in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband and their two small children. Nest, her debut, was called “stunning” in a starred review from School Library Journal. Fetch, her second book, was called a “delight” by Publishers Weekly in a starred review. She is also the author of Every Color Soup and Skyscraper. Visit her at JoreyHurley.com.
Newcomer Hurley lets her bright, clean illustrations do her
storytelling, limiting the text on each page to a single, evocative
word. The first spread—“nest”—accompanies two robins guarding a
precious blue egg. Like silk-screened images, Hurley’s digitally
created artwork represents the birds and the trees they live in
with flat, sharply delineated areas of color on matte pages; airy
white space in the compositions duplicates the freedom in which the
birds live and soar. Although the forms are stripped down, some
small details are preserved, like the intricately woven twigs of
the nest and the sparks of light in the birds’ eyes. “Grow” shows
the robins bringing worms to their nestling amid a bower of
blossoms; throughout, Hurley celebrates the changing seasons.
Although it suggests itself as a bedtime book, the arc of the story
is not day moving into night, and the page that says “sleep” is not
the last one—with an “Awake,” the next spread shows the rising sun.
Robins meet other robins and start again where they began: “Nest.”
A handsome, disciplined debut. Ages 3–7.
*Publishers Weekly*
Nest
Written and illustrated by Jorey Hurley
In this stunning debut, we meet a pair of robins and their egg. We
watch the parents incubate and hatch the egg and teach the baby
bird to survive and fly. Seasons change, colors change. The family
faces danger, but ultimately finds safety and comfort. This story
is told primarily through the crisp illustrations that have a
light, airy quality. The narrative includes only fifteen words, one
on each spread, which adds to the dramatic impact:
“Nest…warm…hatch….grow…jump….” The conceptual space between each
page turn invites readers to thread together the story and imagine
each step in the bird’s journey. The illustrations evoke the
eloquent simplicity of a Japanese woodblock print while the
frontispiece depicts clusters of robin’s eggs, reminiscent of
clouds in a Georgia O’Keefe painting. Every page resonates with a
vision that is both ethereal and quotidian. The birds are depicted
naturalistically and an author’s note includes factual information
about robins and their nests. Nest’s beauty and originality will
stand up to countless re-readings.
*School Library Journal, *STARRED*
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