I love making up stories, reading to children, designing characters, helping children learn to read, helping children develop a love of books that will help them throughout their lives. I love that I get to visit children in schools and at events. I love the letters and pictures I get from children from all over the world. I love the people that I work with on the books. I love the challenges that come with creating something new. . . I tend to develop a character and a story at the same time. But this does change a little with each book I make as every single one has a pattern of its own. People often ask me what the magic formula for creating a good picture book is. I wish I knew! It’s a new challenge every time as books are a bit like living things; each is individual with its own problems to overcome. Each one takes a different amount of time to create, too. Some are quicker than others, some have been bubbling away in the back of my mind for years, and others appear in a “light bulb moment.” I never find making a book easy—but it’s always worth it in the end.
― Catherine Rayner, Interview, Peachtree Books
What booksellers are saying about Victor, the Wolf with Worries
- Victor, The Wolf With Worries, immediately stole my anxious heart. A beautifully illustrated book with an important message. Having the courage to share our worries can make us feel braver, and bigger, and fiercer. With a few great tools to help keep worries away, and the bigger message of realizing that everyone worries, this book is sure to help some littles, and their parents, feel much more wolfish.
― Mary Salazar, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina | BUY
- Sweet Victor! This little wolf worries that he’s not big enough, fierce enough, wolf-ish enough. Thankfully, he has a friend who helps take his mind off his worries. A great lesson for worries and thinkers of anxious thoughts (of all ages!).
― Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | BUY
- Victor, The Wolf With Worries is a picture book about a young wolf with plenty to worry about. Is he big enough? Is he “wolfish” enough? Is he brave enough? Through talking to his friend Pablo, play, and imagination Victor is able to lessen his worries. This book normalizes anxiety and teaches small and simple coping strategies, as well as building empathy for those living with anxiety. The muted watercolor illustrations fit the story well. Overall a lovely book with a lovely message.
― Stacey Riggins, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia | BUY
About Catherine Rayner
Catherine Rayner was born in Harrogate in 1982, and grew up in Boston Spa, later studying at Leeds College of Art and Edinburgh College of Art. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2009 for Harris Finds His Feet, and she was shortlisted in 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2015. In 2014, Norris: The Bear Who Shared was named by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 Children’s Modern Classics of the past ten years. Previous titles by Rayner published by Boxer Books include the award-winning Five Bears. Rayner is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In every place I’ve lived bookstores have been the first places to feel like home—especially Parnassus Books in Nashville, where I led weekly storytime sing-alongs for years, and Green Bean Books in Portland, Ore., where I spent countless hours soaking in the magic of a truly community-centered shop. Bookstores are havens for readers, writers, and dreamers who crave“discovery, community, and belonging. Dear Bookstore is my love letter to them.
