Judy's pen-and-ink drawings have the same exquisite sense of light and texture as my photographs, which is why I published this book - Jane English, photographer/illustrator of a best selling translation of Tao Te Ching (see some the drawings on my website).
The following review gives such a good sense of the book that I include it here in its entirety --
"How does a teacher/writer/artist fill the solitary hours while working as a fire lookout? She writes a book, of course. The Dragonfly of Lookout Mountain is an accurate account of the life cycle of a dragonfly set in a delightful tale full of drama and whimsy.
Dragonfly spends a year in and around a pond next to a meadow below the ridge on which sits a lookout tower. He thoroughly explores his water world as a nymph before crawling onto a cattail and lifting into the sky on newly opened wings.
Air currents send him up to lookout tower where he meets the young woman who is the fire lookout. She is a strange being with eyes and claws like his enemies, but a gentle curious nature he learns to trust. A sudden storm sends him tumbling back down the slope to the meadow where he meets his mate.
As winter approaches, Dragonfly's life comes to an end, but not without hope for the future as we spy the tiny new nymphs at the bottom of the pond.
Ms. Hatch has cleverly taught us about life in a high-mountain ecosystem while entertaining us with a story our children will want to read again and again. Her illustrations, which are ink drawings created by making thousands of tiny dots, are filled with wildlife hidden in shadows, behind trees and beneath rocks. Each reading produces a fresh view as more detail pops out of the pages.
Hatch deviates from her realistic style on several occasions to give Dragonfly human like facial expressions, but more often, his fears and joys are artfully conveyed by his posture.
One would hardly expect the life cycle of a dragonfly to be the stuff of high drama, but Hatch has such a fine writing style, the reader is quickly drawn into the story and is unwilling to put the book down until the last page is finished.
I also appreciated the short piece on lookout towers and dragonflies at the end of the book, which gave me enough additional information to answer inevitable probing questions such a book is likely to spark.
I agree with Norman Bridwell of the Clifford series for children, whose endorsement appears on the back of the book. This charming book will be in my grandchildren's library also!" --Mount Shasta Herald, Mt Shasta, CA 5/8/96
