A Riddle for Rosie

‘A Riddle for Rosie’ demonstrates Sollie’s consummate, all-embracing skill as an illustrator, author and poet. It is one of those rare picture books in which a high quality text is accompanied by illustrations that themselves can be read as works of art.

On Rosie’s tenth birthday, almost a year ago, her sister Pia gave her a notebook containing ten self-written verses and a mysterious task in the form of a riddle. Shortly after this Pia died. When Rosie reads the notebook, she thinks back with poetic precision to the happy moments she and Pia spent together.

To keep Pia’s memory alive, Rosie sketches a series of portraits. She immortalises her sister in water colours, gouache, coloured pencil, wallpaper, crayon, graphite pencil and a collage of colourful snippets of paper. Rosie’s creative process invites the reader also to experiment with image and language. The result is astonishing: ten highly individual portraits, from the delicate and fragile to the sturdy and invincible.

Just before she turns eleven, Rosie unveils Pia’s mysterious message and finds herself standing on the threshold of a symbolic new beginning. We all have our own scars, but ultimately hope will  triumph.