The Hole by Øyvind Torseter, translated by Kari Dickson
So here I find myself facing a bit of a conundrum: how best to tell you about this whimsical delight without spoiling that giddy sense of discovery …
The best option, of course, would be to take my recommendation right here and now and order The Hole. Really, just do it already, oh please!
For you not-yet-convinced, allow me to deflect any doubts with Stein Erik Lunde’s exquisite My Father’s Arms Are a Boat, just because Øyvind Torseter (a mega-award winning Norwegian illustrator, writer, comic book creator) was that title’s artist. Trust me again … Boat is a magnificent collaboration. [And both Torseter titles are available Stateside from magical boutique press Enchanted Lion Books.]
Still need a little more? Okay, so the eponymous Hole goes straight through the middle of the entire book. How ingeniously clever – let’s just say that hole is not unlike a perspective-changing portal …
Open up, and enter an apartment with a move in progress as destination-labeled boxes pile up here and there (everything has a place … doesn’t it?). Keep an eye on that hole … because as you turn the pages, it rather magically, playfully, unpredictably morphs from place to place in the most surprising ways.
My fingers are just itching to point out more highlights, but refrain I must … I cannot, should not, shall not deprive you of such a transporting, gleeful experience. Seeing is believing … or is it?
Readers: Children
Published: 2013 (United States)
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