New Swedish Books, Autumn 2017 1
53 Autumn 2017 Ulf Stark (text) 1944 – 2017 Marcu
s Gunnar Pettersson (ill) b. 1987 The Giant Publisher Brombergs www.brombergs.se Rights Brombergs jenny.kellerman.pillay@ brombergs.se Ulf Stark Selected Works När pappa visade mig världsalltet 1998 Djur som ingen sett utom vi illustrated by Linda Bondestam 2016 Amy, Aron och anden 2017 Selected Literary Prizes Astrid Lindgrenpriset 1993 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 1994 Augustpriset 1996 The Giant The Giant is a delight to read aloud with its warmth, humour and brilliantly-judged characterizations. The inimitable voice of Ulf Stark, who sadly passed away this spring, is witty and thoughtful. Here his words are matched with Marcus Gunnar Pettersson’s detailed and funny images that bring to mind Quentin Blake, Ole Lund Kirkegaard and Sven Nordqvist. Their collaboration is a very successful one. Thunder is a gigantic, grumbly old man who seems terribly angry and terribly dangerous. The young boy Ulf and his friend Bernt are terrified. Is Thunder a giant? Does Thunder eat children? And why is he always standing outside Ulf’s house spying through the window whenever mummy plays the piano? The lovely thing is the way every character, including the adults, is each given a full emotional register with individual quirks, which in turn affects the reading. The Giant is a book that will make you laugh and cry and tremble too. Marcus Gunnar Pettersson Selected Works Vi letar skatt written by Jesper Lundqvist 2015 Picture book Ylvania – sagan om ljusbäraren written by Ylva Hällen 2016 Chapter book Det magiska stoftet written by Stefan Casta 2017 Picture book Photo: Caroline Andersson Photo: Stephanie Wiegner