Aimée Bissonette and Claudia McGhee will meet for the first time Saturday.

They’ll greet each other, and their new book.

At 4 p.m. Saturday at Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque, there will be a reading for author Bissonette and illustrator McGhee’s new book, North Woods Girl, which they finished without ever meeting. The book tells the story of a girl hiking throughout all the seasons with her grandmother.

“I’m a nature nut,” Bissonette said. “This book was sort of combining my interest of a love for nature and … getting kids to not just think about cell phones and iPads … to get outdoors with someone they love.”

Bissonette first got interested in children’s book writing while running her legal practice representing children’s books authors and illustrators.

Iowa City illustrator McGhee got involved in illustration in a slightly different way. When she was a kid, she loved to draw, but once she got to college, she majored in anthropology and archaeology with a goal to one day work in a museum.

“When I got to college, I was torn between art and history, and I thought that working in a museum would let me do both,” McGhee said. “But in the end I ended up wanting to draw more than I wanted to research history.”

Bissonette wrote the story, then McGhee was asked to illustrate. McGhee had never been to the north woods of Minnesota, so she had to do some research. She and her husband took a trip north of Duluth.

“We did some exploring, some hiking,” she said. “I got to get more acquainted with what kind of trees, flowers, and wildlife might live in that area.”

McGhee illustrations focus on nature, so she was excited to be put with a book that focused on the outdoors.

Bissonette believes her story will remind readers, both old and young, to love the outdoors.

“I do hope [readers] will think of two important things: One, the importance of nature and getting outside … even those cold, snowy Minnesota or Iowa days; and that we continue to have an appreciation for nature,” she said. “Also, this notion of relationships … I hope that multigenerational element is something that folks appreciate.”

— by Devyn Young

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Where: Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Admission: Free