Description
A CBC Best Graphic Novel selection for 2021 & shortlisted for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by Manitoba Publisher
With sensitivity and tenderness, Starkie Mak has captured a tale of the immigrant experience, from the eyes of a child. Masterfully rendered with careful homage paid to the children's books that have touched the hearts of so many, Mak's brush strokes and calligraphy evoke the turbulent emotions and difficulties a child must surely experience when having their little world upended, only to have a much larger and foreign world unfold before them.
In a heartbreaking parting, a child says goodbye to her family and is left with her imagination as guide. In search of a new life in a new land, a child retreats into the realm of fantasy. Through the devastating pain of childhood loss emerges the joy of a child's triumph.
Fiction. Graphic Novel.
“A beautiful and poignant graphic novel. Mak’s ink and brush flows effortlessly from each page, capturing hopefulness and bravery that’s sure to inspire readers.”
— Lisa Mendis, Curb Angels
“Mak channels the worlds of Lewis Carroll, A. A. Milne and Edward Gorey in her heartbreakingly beautiful debut graphic novel. The strength and resilience of the main character and her animal guides are illustrated in strong brush work that uses only enough ink to build each scene. No line is wasted in the telling of this tale. Mak’s true superpower is how much emotion she pulls from every page using the sparest of line-work.”
— Michael Joyal, Stars, a CBC Best Book
“A tale as heartbreaking and hopeful as childhood itself.”
— Shirley Camia, Children Shouldn’t Use Knives, Manuela Dias Award winner
Author Bio
Starkie Mak is an artist and writer deeply in love with expressive drawing and painting. Her paintings have been exhibited across Europe and Asia. She illustrated for children's magazine Cotton Tree and is an art teacher educating children. She studied creative writing at the University of Oxford. She moved to Toronto from Hong Kong in 2018.
Author City: TORONTO, ON CAN