A book about the journey of life, from our wide-eyes of childhood through the tangles and brambles, into our end.
Riccardo Bozzi is a journalist and has worked for the
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera since 1990. He is the author
of The World Belongs to You, illustrated by Olimpia Zagnoli
(Templar/Candlewick, 2013) and Cher auteur, illustrated by
Giancarlo Ascari and Pia Valentinis (Hélium, 2016).
Violeta Lopiz is a Berlin-based Spanish illustrator. She has
illustrated numerous books including The Forest (Enchanted Lion
Books, 2018), Amigos do Peito (Bruaa, 2014), and Les poings sur les
iles (Editions du Rouergue, 2011), which received the CJ Picture
Book Award 2011 in the New Books category. She has participated in
exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, USA,
Japan, Korea, and more. El Cultural, the supplement of El Mundo,
considers her one of the top ten names of contemporary Spanish
illustration. Her work can be found in bookstores, streets, fairs,
newspapers, and the thousands of notebooks that she leaves
scattered around.
Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator of children's
books. His book Jemmy Button (Templar/Candlewick, 2013),
co-authored with Jennifer Uman, was selected by the New York Times
as one of the 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2013.
A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2018
A Brain Pickings Best Children's Book of 2018
A 2018 CBC Hot Off the Press selection
Selected for exhibition in the 2018 Society of Illustrators
Original Art show
Featured in MilK Magazine Korea December 2018
Featured in Green Source DFW December 2018 gift guide
★ "Uncommonly beautiful...the sheer marvel of the design, together
with the inclusive, open-ended mystery of what lies beyond the
forest, makes this a wondrous piece of bookmaking for all ages.
Much like a poem, it will evoke new emotions and layers of meaning
with repeated readings."—Publishers Weekly
"Like a fairy-tale walk in the woods, “The Forest” is a thrilling
visual excursion into uncharted territory featuring elaborate
die-cuts, gatefolds and embossed images created by two artists from
Italy and Spain." — Leonard Marcus
"The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books
I've ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as
bookmaking. It's a landmark."—Bruce Handy, Author of Wild Things:
The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult
"THE FOREST is one of the 2-3 most beautiful & shattering picture
books I’ve ever seen.” —Dave Eggers, Best-Selling Author, Editor,
Publisher, and Co-Founder of 826 National
"As a book / object / artwork, this is just NUTS. And
beautiful."—Simon Armstrong, Book Buyer at Tate Modern
"The vibrant forest and its creatures peeking through the die-cut
eyes of the barely visible faces remind us that the human role in
nature is not that of conqueror or king but of humble witness and
passing visitor." —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
"...clever, instantly arousing curiosity... Students of design will
appreciate the construction and the lush, vibrant compositions."
—Kirkus Reviews
“This is an essentially existential children’s book, which imagines
human life itself as an exploration through that famed and
sometimes dark forest in which we have often been said to find
ourselves. Like pretty much every title published by the small,
independent Enchanted Lion books, it is a gorgeous, singular,
unimprovable book. The story starts: ‘It is an enormous, ancient
forest that has not yet been fully explored.’ Inside, a series of
bas-reliefs and cut-outs on plain paper shows us first a baby, then
a young child … and on through to an old, wrinkled face that
eventually yields, becoming lines in a landscape from which new
greenery grows. Between the images of a human aging, we see
forests, jungles and fields, with animals and humans making their
way, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group.
Somehow ‘The Forest’ is a work of art that escapes feeling like an
‘art object’ — it succeeds in being for children. The ink on its
mylar dust jacket makes a distinctively beautiful sound. The
eye-holes and occasional unfoldings alter a reader’s sense of
space. ‘It is said that the forest has a certain limit if you look
straight ahead, but the sides are boundless.’ This book takes on
even death: ‘At the end of the climb there is a ravine into which
each explorer will eventually fall, despite the precautions taken
and the advancements of science.’ This fall didn’t bother my
4-year-old at all. She took interest in the new seedlings, the
disappearance of the textured pages, and the return of the
pines."—Rivka Galchen, The New York Times Book Review
"For those willing to explore the book with the wonder of a child,
each page turn will have you not only going deeper in the forest,
but also witnessing the passage of time. Bozzi’s writing captures
an openness and a sense of mystery which, when paired with the
book’s actual physicality, may have each forest explorer come to
see their lives anew, renewed, and renewable."—Lori Horbas, Boswell
Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
"At first, it seems like the prose is merely describing a walk
through a forest, but taken together, the words become deeply
poignant. Bozzi meaningfully gestures towards love, hate,
nostalgia, language, wisdom, death, and rebirth, usually
indirectly. It’s a beautiful object, with a stunning, highly
tactile layout, and while it’s not quite clear who the ideal
audience would be—adults and artistically inclined teenagers might
like it, too—those who connect with its enigmatic beauty will be
transfixed."—Sarah Hunter, Booklist
“Metaphysical poetry for kids? Little ones might not grasp the
deeper meaning, but this gorgeously illustrated book begs to be
explored: from the raised texture pages to the holes that demand
little eyes look through to spy the next page. For older ones, it
opens a wonderful world of questions: who are we, where did we come
from, and where are we going?” —EcoParent Magazine
“This book is an undeniable treasure.” —The Reading Ninja
”Richard Bozzi invites readers on an expedition through the
visually-captivating, carefully-illustrated and colorful forest
created by Violeta Lópiz and Valerio Vidali. Readers will join
explorers in uncovering the many wonders of the forest, old and
new. Unveil the ecology of an ever-changing forest as you feel your
way through the pages. The artistry of the foldouts, cutouts,
embossed imagery, and bold illustrations deepen the senses with
each page.” —Samantha D’Acunto, LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York
Botanical Garden
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