This magnificent new title from Icinori starts as a word book of things to be thankful for and turns into a thrilling adventure story along the way
What starts as a series of “thank yous” addressed to common objects that inhabit our daily lives gradually builds into a fantastic journey across landscapes, seasons, and inner discoveries. Deceptively simple, each page acknowledges the contributions of a different object (spoon, rock, beasts) or concept (summer, slumber, surprise), with each image building on the next to create a dazzling narrative that invites readers to puzzle and play, explore and discover, appreciate and marvel. Aaron Becker’s Journey meets Carter Higgins’s Circle Under Berry in this visual tour de force and invitation to look at the world with new eyes.
Praise
One of 100 Scope Notes’s Most Astonishingly Unconventional Books of 2024!
“The text begins with simple thank you statements, but it soon becomes apparent that these images are building on each other and an adventure is taking shape. Visually stunning and open to interpretation, as a good unconventional book should be.”
—100 Scope Notes (A School Library Journal blog), Travis Jonker
STARRED REVIEW! ? "Paired with simple text made up of brief 'thank you' sentences, the story unfolds through the elegant, textured images... This is a tale that begs readers to linger and wonder about what it means to be grateful... A limited but vivid palette of primary colors simultaneously soothes with its blues and energizes with its red and yellows, creating an aesthetically pleasing, thought-provoking, and engaging experience. A whimsical, enriching, and deeply rewarding adventure in gratitude."
—Kirkus Reviews
STARRED REVIEW! ? "Striking, stylish illustrations distinguish an epic read from creative team Icinori. Crisp-edged, silkscreen-like images in a palette of muted red, faded gold, and deep turquoise give the pages the look of vintage advertisements… The ambitious, world-girdling expedition… recasts exploration in an unexpected language."
—Publishers Weekly
“A child sets out on a fantastical journey of gratitude in this engrossing picture book. The illustrations defy characterization, with elements of geometric abstraction, neo-Impressionism, and linocut techniques all layered together in a limited palette of blue, red, and yellow… Invites children to explore the world around them with new appreciation for the extraordinary and the everyday.”
—Foreword Reviews
