My Little One

My Little One

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Translated from by

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By Germano Zullo

Illustrated by Albertine

Translated from the French by Katie Kitamura

Winner of the 2016 Bologna Ragazzi Award, My Little One is drawn in simple gray pencil, a series of sparse, yet emotionally poignant images. A mother, welcoming her tiny son into the world, tells him the story of their lives, whispering to him as she swings him gently around. With each successive page, he grows while she shrinks, until she is being held by the man he has become. An eloquent portrait of life’s waxing and waning, My Little One is a moving celebration of constant, unconditional love, for all ages.

Coming on October 27th, 2020

Praise

  • My Little One is the absolute masterpiece of Albertine and Germano Zullo.

  • The parent becomes the child in this sparsely worded French import. The illustrations, done by 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award winner Albertine, rest in copious white space. They are spare, delicate line drawings in what appear to be pencil . . . The sense of movement on static pages is compelling – all in the form of fine, simple lines and dynamic page turns. This elegant story . . . provides food for thought for more-contemplative children . . . A playful and poignant take on parenthood.

  • Occasionally, there are drawings that are stronger than words. That is the case with this small book that tells the story of a life. A mother, a child, and the time that passes . . . Deeply moving! (For all ages.)

  • This is a book about love, the passing of time, and the cycle of our lives. It is also about relationships. Slowly, page after page, the black pencil illustrations on milky white paper tell a restrained, eloquently poetic universal story.

  • In the stories created by the creative couple, the relationship between the text and image is so perfectly controlled and the articulation between the two crafts is seamless. The reading rhythm makes room for moments of silence, a dreamlike and reflexive pause before turning the next page . . . The mastery of the illustration takes the readers elsewhere: a place they can indulge in a plethora of emotions and feelings that are exacerbated by inspired narration.

  • Whether sober or eccentric, low key or outlandish, the worlds of Albertine are always elegant . . . she mingles reality and fantasy, the trivial and the sublime, dream and memory.

  • Uplifting in more ways than one, this prizewinning import suggests that little things can change lives – and perhaps even the world.

  • My Little One surpasses all the others. The book is a lake of pure emotion, the story of a life, of two lives, more precisely, of a mother and a son, revolving in time. Making us laugh and cry with each image, and ask: How is it possible to express so much with the tip of a pencil?

  • Occasionally, there are drawings that are stronger than words. That is the case with this small book that tells the story of a life. A mother, a child, and the time that passes... Deeply moving! (For all ages.)

  • Shimmering, color-saturated landscapes and a message about cherishing small things make this English-language debut by a Swiss team an unexpected treasure.

  • . . . an engaging invitation to embrace small, often overlooked treasures. The story unfolds leisurely, almost like an animation.

  • Humour, sensibilité, excentricité... Albertine dessine des personnages qui lui ressemblent. Ses albums, de joyeux joyaux, observent l’humanité sous toutes ses coutures. (…) Scruter les gens, avec leurs particularités physiques et leurs instabilités d’humeur, traquer leur drôlerie sous-jacente, saisir l’émotivité, la générosité, la peur, la joie qui bataillent en eux. Mais jamais mordre ni se gausser, jamais humilier ni se hausser du col.

  • Elle a l’art de formuler ses vérités en images, Albertine. La maïeutique, par le crayon.

  • Les auteurs ne s’en vanteront pas, car ce n’est pas le genre de la maison, mais sitôt qu’un de leurs ouvrages paraît, il provoque la fonte des cœurs et l’ensoleillement des esprits, à l’acclamation générale.

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