Noa is an excellent finder. But he can’t seem to find any friends.

Noa the house-sprite likes his home . . . but it doesn’t have any friends in it. Determined to change that, Noa sets out on an adventure to find a home with friends. Along the way, he meets Bear, Ferret, and Wolf. Together they face daunting dangers and witness breathtaking beauty, all in search of a new home . . . until they come to realize that maybe the real home is the friendships they made along the way.

The timeless message and whimsical art of Searching for Home make this the perfect gift book for folktale enthusiasts and fairy tale lovers. Young readers will resonate with Noa’s hunt for true friendship, and might just be inspired to go on an adventure or two of their own. Oftentimes, rich friendships are waiting just around the corner.

Noa was a house-sprite who lived at the top of a mountain. He was good at finding things, except the one thing he desperately wanted, friends.

One day he’d had enough and decided to leave his home in search of some friends, unfortunately just a couple of steps out of his home the wind blew his hat off and Noa had to chase after it. The hat came to a stop on a bear who was stuck in the snow. Noa helped the bear get free and the two made a pack to find a new place to live together.

The couple’s journey was interrupted by numerous other animals who all decided to join the pair to find a new home.

Searching for Home is a sweet children’s picture book about friendship and loneliness. Noa is so alone that he thinks the only way to find friends to is leave his home behind and find another one with friends in it, but along his journey, he discovers that friends are made and not found in another home he can just join.

The illustrations are cool, bright, and full-page and bring the story to life. The text is simple but packs a punch and the moral is loud and clear. Overall, Searching for Home is an adorable book that I can see children wanting to read over and over again.

Chantal is a Dutch illustrator and writer of picture books. She grew up in the national park in the Netherlands but now lives in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside in the UK with her husband and two whippets. Her books have received a Kirkus Review star for books of remarkable merit and her work has been highly commended in the Macmillan Prize and AOI Awards.

Chantal’s latest picture book, SEARCHING FOR HOME, was be published Feb ’24 by Beaming Books. After Fierce Grey Mouse, the 2nd book she has both written and illustrated. Together with her scriptwriter husband, David Hoskins, Chantal created the Horace & Nim series published by Hubble & Hattie and has illustrated 2 books in the Worzel series, written by Catherine Pickles.

When she’s not writing and drawing, Chantal loves to play with her two whippets and walk them in the beautiful countryside in which she lives, at the same time giving her plenty of inspiration!