Lavender Moon

Agnes C. Farrell is an elementary-school teacher in Richmond, B.C.

Lavender Moon owns a café that is frequented three nights a week by
passengers from the late-night bus. One day she decides that she is
tired of cutting pies and grilling sandwiches. Toby Swan is tired of
driving the bus. He and Lavender agree to exchange keys. Toby is going
to open a hardware store and Lavender is going to explore the country.

Lavender travels to unfamiliar towns, paddles on shining lakes,
explores caves, bounces down rapids, and climbs with mountain goats.
Finally, she reaches the ocean and thinks, “This is the place for
me.” She paints children and dogs playing in the surf, and goes
surfing when the waves are just right. When summer ends, she becomes
nostalgic for the people who used to enjoy her cooking and arranges to
have her bus converted into a café that she drives along the coast.

This story is nicely complemented by Eugenie Fernandes’s detailed and
evocative illustrations. Recommended.