Read 207 of 2021. The Lost Soul by Olga Tokarczuk. Illustrations by Joanna Concejo. Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Title: The Lost Soul
Author: Olga Tokarczuk
Illustrator: Joanna Concejo
Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
ISBN: 978-1644210345
Genre: Graphic, Illustrations, Picture Book
Pages: 48
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

The Lost Soul is one of the best reads of the year, where I am concerned. It not only makes you introspect about life and everything in-between, but also makes you want to stop in your tracks and just be for a while.

The entire book is told in pictures, with very few pages taking up text. It is about John, a workaholic businessman in existential crisis who feels he has lost his soul, and all is gone. A doctor diagnosis his malaise as his soul has been left out in the running game and all he needs to do is wait for his soul to catch-up. This is the plot. The story of our lives.

Tokarczuk is empathetic, poetic, and above all has a sensibility that matches Concejo’s beautiful illustrations, and though the text isn’t so much, yet the translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones hits the spot, like a tonic that you need to get you rid of your ailment.

I think most picture books that I have read my entire life have been more philosophical in nature than literary tomes. They say what they have to quite simply and you have no choice but to go back and reread them. Concejo’s illustrations change with every emotion on page – from sepia tones to being monochromatic to colourful, they are breathtaking in every way.

The Lost Soul teaches us about stopping, slowing down, about the grace in standing still and doing nothing. I think I need to follow this in my life for sure. To just be calm and breathe. To try not to think so much.

The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington

Title: The Milk of Dreams
Author: Leonora Carrington
Publisher: New York Review Children’s Collection
ISBN: 978-1681370941
Genre: Children’s Books
Pages: 56
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5/5

The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington is such a strange book – even though it is for children. The short stories are odd, have a fairy tale quality to them, and are surreal to the hilt.

These stories aren’t the usual fare that authors serve up for children. They are dark – with children’s body parts missing, some sewed back, and a story also of a vulture getting stuck in gelatin. Carrington read these stories to her children, and that’s how they came to be. In fact, the illustrations in the book are also from the ones that she made on the children’s bedroom walls.

This book is bizarre, and at the same time delightfully odd and silly. I was captivated by all of it – the drawings, the prose that was crazy, and the nonchalance of it all, in the sense of it being read to kids. There is John, who has wings for ears, and “Humbert the Beautiful”, and my personal favorite being “The Horrible Story of the Little Meats” – a fantastic fairy of a woman who doesn’t like kids, and ends up feeding them bad meat, to then do what she wants to.

The Milk of Dreams is a read that is short and yet stays with you. I could reread and reread it some more. Maybe this time I will pay more attention to the illustrations as well. All said and done, it is the kind of book that could be read easily in less than an hour and like I said, go back to once in a while.

She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger.

Title: She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History
Author: Chelsea Clinton
Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger
Publisher: Philomel Books
ISBN: 978-0525516996
Genre: Children Non-Fiction
Pages: 32
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4 Stars

We need more books such as these. We need books to empower our children – more so girls – they need to know that nothing is impossible and not achievable. There is no such thing as a “man’s world”. And even if there is, it shouldn’t exist because time’s up.

I wasn’t aware that Chelsea Clinton had written books. I got to know of this book by chance and though it is for children, I think it is meant for all. Men and women alike and for people in general, more so for men if you ask me. Chelsea speaks of life of 13 very independent, strong and brave women in various fields, around the world and how they impacted the world. This is a book that is just one of those starts that make children see the world differently. I would so want every mother to gift this to her son, just so he understands and sees the world differently – without privilege of being a son to begin with.

“She Persisted: Around the World” is a book that is deceitfully simple and carries so much gravitas in it. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, though of course it ended very soon. The illustrations by Alexandra Boiger are quaint and simple – striking and full of colour and complement the words superbly. Books such as these are baby steps – steps that might eventually pave way for all the leaps and jumps.

 

 

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Title: Wishtree
Author: Katherine Applegate
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan USA
ISBN: 978-1250043221
Genre: Children’s Fiction, Nature, Tolerance
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 Stars

You need to read books for children. I think that because sometimes profundity and really how to live life is simply told in all the chaos of adult literature, only in children’s books. Whether it is, “The Giving Tree” or it is lessons learned from, “Charlotte’s Web”, books written for children are in fact meant for adults, because we need to learn how to be empathetic and compassionate, so we can pass it to kids. “Wishtree” is the third book I read by Katherine Applegate and as usual I finished it with a lump in my throat and a smile on my face.

The book is narrated by Red – a wise old tree. He is obviously cool, steady, and calm. He is a couple of hundred years old and is home to many birds and animals, all of whom communicate. Applegate’s writing then just doesn’t become about the Wishtree Red, but about the entire neighbourhood, people related to the tree, the ones who want to cut it down (not a spoiler really) and the ones who want to save it. At the heart of the book though, is a story of racism, acceptance and finding one’s roots and calling it home.

I am not going to speak about the plot all that much but I will tell you that sometimes, simple books such as these end up being so layered and impactful that you are stunned by its seemingly simplicity. “Wishtree” simply put is a story of a Red Oak Wishtree who watches over the neighbourhood and thinks he has seen it all, till a new family moves in and not everyone is welcoming to them.

Gift this book to children. Make them understand the need for empathy and kindness, needed more than ever in the world we live. Let them know that you care that they care. Applegate’s books are all about empathy and work beautifully. Read it.

You can buy the book here