Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire, Illustrated by David Litchfield (2022) Candlewick Press

A beautiful book wherein the title character, Cress, and her family move one night from their warren after her father does not come home.  They move into the Broken Arms, where the landlord is an owl.  In addition to her brother, Kip, getting sick, and her mother weaving to make a living, Cress makes friends with squirrels, meets Tunk, a bear, a skunk who is glamorous, at least in her own mind, a chinchilla, a hen, and Nasty, another rabbit.  She gets chased by Reynard, a fox.  And worries about being eaten by the Final Drainpipe, a snake.  But the best advise in the book is for writers and is told by the hen who suggests that Cress make a story.

“I don’t know how to make a story,” said Cress.

“It’s like making an egg, I think?” said the hen.  “Just sit there until it comes out.”