Morris

Morris lives with his grandma at the foot of a mountain. Grandma’s dog, Houdini, lives up to her name: she’s brilliant at escaping. Morris climbs the mountain to fetch Houdini safely home for the hundredth time when a snowstorm catches them by surprise. High in the snow he meets a boy who deals very differently with all that life metes out to him.

In Bart Moeyaert’s latest creation, after having won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2019, we again find the multi-layered yet measured sentences so characteristic of his work. He depicts Morris, with masterly precision, as a loner who carries sadness within him and at the same time – almost to his own surprise – doesn’t let anyone mess him about. With his beautiful illustrations, Sebastiaan Van Doninck brings warmth and colour into the snow-white cold of the story, thereby hinting at the tone of the heart-warming ending.