Seven Viking Days, new full-color, hardcover children's picture book, launches on October 24

HILLSBORO, Ore. - Oct. 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Hillsboro artist Mia Hocking will launch her new full-color, hardcover children’s picture book, Seven Viking Days, on Saturday, October 24, as part of Hillsboro’s Art Month celebration.  The Launch Event for Seven Viking Days is sponsored by Jacobsen’s Books & More, and it will be held between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. directly in front of the store at 211 E. Main Street, Hillsboro, Oregon.  The Event will feature book readings, book signings, drawings, photo opportunities and more.

This is what D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer with Midwest Book Review, says about Hocking’s new book --

“Seven Viking Days offers up Viking tales of Thor and others in a hardcover full-color children's picture book that gathers these tales under one cover and adds vibrant details about Viking lives and history.

“It would have been all too easy to just present Viking folklore alone; but the added value of this approach is that it tailors its stories to reveal Viking lives and society and thus takes the folktale format a step further by creating a lively history.

“Mia Hocking's lovely illustrations create a collage of images and backgrounds to accompany text that will lend to both parental read-aloud and leisure enjoyment by kids with basic reading skills who have moved beyond the one- or two-line elementary picture book format.

“From the origins of Tuesday in 'Tiu's Day' to how other days of the week and Scandinavian roots are still present in modern culture, Seven Viking Days uses repetition, icons for the days, discussions of days' names and their roots in legend and story, and more.

“The result is a gorgeous presentation of Viking vignettes that will interest adults as well as children.”


Publisher’s Weekly also praises her achievement:  “Blending papers, paints, and collaged objects, Hocking succeeds in creating a dreamy, multilayered backdrop for the sun’s stories.”

Besides being a professional artist, Hocking is a Girl Scout leader, wife and mother of two.  Her daughter, a senior in high school, is the drum major of her school’s competitive marching band. A resourceful artist, Hocking’s passion is mixed media (recycled/repurposed) visual art.  This book expresses her abstract style with a specific vision and purpose.  The Sequoia Gallery in Hillsboro exhibits her work, which represents core life philosophies of environmental consciousness and personal journeys.

Author Lee Cuesta composed the text for the new book. One side of Cuesta’s family came from Denmark, sometimes called the "Heartland of Viking society."  So this book reveals his roots.  An internationally recognized writer and author, he has been published in periodicals such as World Pulse, Indian Life, and InSite.  His novel was published in 2001.  Cuesta says:  “My wife and I have four wonderful children who are parenting our six grandchildren.  Due to my career as a journalist, we lived cross-culturally for eight years.”

He continues:  “As a writer and a grandparent myself, I wanted to produce a children’s book to help them learn the names of the days, along with their correct sequence.   Then a good friend and colleague at the time mentioned that the names of our days have Norse origins … and it clicked in my mind!  I composed the text, and teamed up with Mia Hocking, whose unique artwork brings authenticity to the ancient Scandinavian mythology.”

Publisher’s Weekly describes their new book:  “Combining abstracted mixed-media illustrations and snippets of European legend, Cuesta recounts the origins of the names of the days of the week. After a Viking boy named Canute wakes one morning, the sun describes the stories behind the days’ names. ‘Without me, no plant or animal could survive on a dark and frozen earth,’ says Sun, a fuzzy-edged orb with a smirking smile. ‘That’s why the first day bears my name.’ Monday is named for the Moon, while the others ‘celebrate your Mighty Ones,’ as Sun explains. They include Tiu, who loses his hand to the ‘monster wolf’ Fenrir; Thor, ruler of the sky; and Queen Frigg, Friday’s namesake, who mourns the death of her son, Baldur.”  The book is for “Ages 4–8,” according to Publisher’s Weekly.

Cuesta says:  “Seven Viking Days is a book for parents and grandparents who love to cozy up with their child and read through a book that they both will love due to the luscious illustrations and the captivating stories. In addition, it helps children learn the names by reinforcing the correct sequence of the days through repetition and icons.  And older children love to read the book by themselves.  My nine-year-old granddaughter reads it to herself.”  The book’s ISBN is 978-1-4958-0584-4, and it’s available from Amazon, as well as other major booksellers.

The Launch Event for Seven Viking Days will be on October 24 in Hillsboro, Oregon, in conjunction with Hillsboro’s Art Month celebration.  The public is invited.  The public also is invited to Hocking’s artist reception at the Sequoia Gallery + Studios on Tuesday, November 3, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.  The gallery is located at 136 SE 3rd Ave., Hillsboro, Oregon.