The Observer & Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit
An Easter treat! Last Sunday's Observer (in the UK) included Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit in their round-up of children's books for the Easter season.
It's an unusual book, and falls outside of what would usually be considered a picture book for children, so we were delighted to see it included in the list. Sadly, despite requesting Amrita Das' stunning image which imagines childhood, it wasn't in the final print edition. So I'm including it here!
The full article is here, and the text of the review below:
It is not specified what age Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit by Amrita Das (Tara £10.99) is aimed at – in one sense, it could hardly be less child-like. It is an arresting autobiographical book with illustrations as exact as embroidery. It is by an Indian woman who, one day, attended a book-making workshop, a "chance which has made it possible for me to do this book". She is philosophical too: "Life is strange – you never know what awaits you." What follows is her meditation, on an Indian train, about another woman, poorer than herself. It is about unfolding empathy and written with rare sincerity, vulnerability and poise. (9-ish and up)