The Sea-of-Firefly

The master of animal illustrations and the king of animal stories come together in this inimitable book. In seventeen stories we meet animals who would like to be different, until they realize how special they already are. The firefly dreams of being a huge and formidable fire monster, a real sea-of-firefly, until he realizes he doesn’t know of any other animal that can shine a light like he does. The knobs on the giraffe’s head decide they can do without the giraffe from now on and set out to see the world. The elephant wants to be the sun and despite repeatedly falling goes on climbing trees – although he wonders how the sun can climb so high without anything to help it.

Toon Tellegen’s animal stories continually surprise, move and set us thinking. Carll Cneut constantly reinvents himself as an illustrator. In this book he conjures up a mild, enchanting atmosphere appropriate for the forest in which all the animals live, where the light falls through dense foliage. To achieve this he deploys a new technique, with many transparent layers of paint on top of each other. Although barely noticeable to the reader, this meticulous method creates a unique ambiance. Both visually and in its storytelling, this is a delightful book.