Shortlisted children’s author avoids happy ending

Kate Rolfe has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for her illustrated book Wolf and Bear

A children's author shortlisted for a book award said she wanted to avoid an overly happy ending.

Kate Rolfe from Framlingham, Suffolk, is nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Wolf and Bear.

Hitchin author-illustrator Chloe Savage is also shortlisted for The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish.

Ms Rolfe said: "The book is about mental health, so I didn't want this cure that everything is OK at the end."

She said the story, about the friendship between a wolf and a bear, shows “a little bit of conflict and disagreement”.

“At the end, Bear and Wolf still don’t want to play together in the way both animals want.

“I passionately wanted to show we can be together and play together without having to change who we are."

Ms Rolfe said the story shows “a little bit of conflict and disagreement”

She said she was inspired by her “fellow neurodivergent friendships, and how we support each other”.

“I often find myself ‘being Wolf’ and wanting to do it all, while other times my need to retreat into my own mental space leads me to seek solitude like Bear, and push others away.

“I wanted to create a story that allowed us to empathise with both characters equally, and show that it really is okay to not always be okay, ” she added.

Ms Rolfe, who has dyslexia, was crowned "best new talent" in children's publishing in November as part of the World Illustration Awards 2022.

She used cyanotype, which is print-making with sunlight, to create the illustrations and even spent time watching live wolves to create the characters.

“You get to see some body languages and the way the wolves move when they’re playing, which you would never have imagined.”

She said she was “utterly thrilled” to be on the shortlist.

Chloe Savage from Hitchin says she likes to make her illustrations "highly detailed" and "inclusive"

Like Ms Rolfe, Ms Savage studied children’s book illustration at Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge School of Art.

The university said four of the six authors shortlisted had been on the course.

Ms Savage said her debut book was “deeply inspired by my own experience of failure and resilience”.

“I love to make my work highly detailed so that, regardless of your reading ability, you will be able to find something to enjoy in the book.

“It is very important to me that my work is inclusive in this way," she added.

She said it was “a huge honour” to be shortlisted for the prize.

Chloe Savage's debut book is also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize