This is an excellent read for the Fall/spooky season. Sometimes we lose our way. There's always someone there to pull us out of it if we choose to. The story is great. I fell in love with the illustrations by Emilia Dziubak. She is a master of movement and emotion in her art.

If I could give this book ten stars instead of five I would do, it has definitely earned it’s place in my book lovers heart. Sumptuous pencil drawn & coloured pictures and simple words tell the story of Niles who is no longer living, just existing, so deep in grief is he buried. A small boy trusting him to look after a plant brings him a purpose, something to get up for in the morning and the ending is hopeful and touching. I will be buying more copies of this as gifts for friends and family.

Not sure this is really a book for children, but it's gorgeous. An old man rediscovers purpose in life when his young neighbor asks him to take care of his (not yet even sprouted) flower while they are away from home. As the seed sprouts and the plant grows, the man comes back to life.

Amazing!!! Powerful yet simple story, beautifully & carefully told, and fantastically illustrated. A tour de force.

Niles is old, lives alone, with withering plants, but it's so gloomy even the cat leaves. His children have grown and left, and his wife Sara has died (though we get a glimpse of her studio and paintings).
Then late one night the doorbell rings, and the neighbor boy asks him to watch his plant as he is going on vacation. Though it is just a pot, not a plant. But he waters it anyway, grumpily . . . and the magic begins.

Translated from the Swedish by Polly Lawson. First published in Sweden by Bonnier Carlsen in 2017.

Illustrations by Emilia Dziubak (Poland) are hand drawn using coloured pencils

I'm not crying, you're crying!

This might be a new favorite. I don't want to say too much, but this is a picture book with a longer text (by Martin Widmark, translated from Swedish) and illustrations by Emilia Dziubak (in colored pencil, although they don't look like any colored pencil I've seen). The images slip between reality, memory, and metaphor in this heartwarming reawakening story.

Coming closer to release date.

Written by: Martin Widmark
Illustrated: Emilia Dziubak

Lyrical, beautiful and magical!

I was drawn towards this book because of the amazing illustrations in it and was surprised to find that the story was just as beautiful and sweet.

This little tale is about Larson. An old man with a sad and lonely heart who has given up on life.
One day a young boy appears at his door and asks him to take care of a flowerpot for him.
Larson nurses the flower to life and in doing so he finds satisfaction and a will to be happy again.

Just one more reason that more adults should read picture books.

The illustrations grab you right off, being deliciously creepy when appropriate, and infused with light at just the right moments. Each spread is rich with depth and emotion. The story begins very dark, touching on loss and loneliness and quiet despair. But things do start to cheer up, slowly but surely.

If you loved the movie "Up" this has some similar undertones. Echoes some of the loss and hope themes from The Rough Patch, another great picture book from this year.

Larson lebt seit dem Tod seiner Frau alleine und zurückgezogen, bis eines Tages der Nachbarsjunge klingelt und möchte, dass Larson sich um seine Pflanze kümmert.

Zauberhaft und wunderbar - sowohl die Geschichte, die erzählt wird, als auch die großartigen Illustrationen.
Eines der schönsten illustrierten Bücher, die ich in letzter Zeit gelesen und gesehen habe!

Ganz ganz große Herzensempfehlung!