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YOUNGER FICTION
Nilsson, Ulf

All the Dear Little Animals

60 pp. | Gecko | March, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-776572-89-2 $17.99
(2) 1-3 Translated by Julia Marshall. Illustrated by Eva Eriksson. "One day we had nothing to do. We wanted some fun. Then Esther found a bumblebee." This illustrated early chapter book is a darkly comedic exploration of life and death. Three bored children begin holding funerals for dead animals they happen upon, beginning with the bumblebee. Flowers, poetry, tears, and a cigar-box coffin make the first funeral such a success that they start a business, Funerals Ltd. Among other creatures, that day they bury a pet hamster, a rooster, and three dead fish Esther finds in the fridge. Busy and self-righteous in their work ("We were very kind and good, looking after the dead animals. We were the nicest people in the world"), they enjoy great satisfaction and become greedy for larger creatures to bury. Then, at dusk, a blackbird flies into a window and dies before their eyes. The suddenness of the transition unsettles the three children, and this final funeral, though still melodramatic, feels more personal and less like a game. "The next day we found something else to do. Something completely different." Honest and uncomfortable humor within the soft, pale vignettes and full-page and double-page-spread art captures the book's spirit, with a final spread showing the graveyard the trio created, with wooden crosses and stones labeled with names (including "A fish," "One more fish," and "One more fish") commemorating all the creatures whose lives were honored that day.
Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

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