The Forest - by Riccardo Bozzi (Paperback)

About the Book

A book about the journey of life, from our wide-eyes of childhood through the tangles and brambles, into our end.

Book Synopsis

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2018! ★ A book about the journey of life, from our wide-eyes of childhood through the tangles and brambles, into our end.

A lyrical book about the adventure of life, The Forest is also a magnificent visual work, both painterly and a technical feat of paper engineering. In these beautifully considered pages, sensory experience and the textures of the material world are rendered through die-cuts, embossing, cutouts, and two gatefolds.

Review Quotes

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2018
A Brain Pickings Best Children's Book of 2018
A 2018 CBC Hot Off the Press selection
Selected for exhibition in the 2018 Society of Illustrators Original Art show
Featured in MilK Magazine Korea (December 2018)
Featured in Green Source DFW's 2018 Gift Guide

BLURBS

"The Forest is one of the two or three most beautiful and shattering picture books I've ever seen."--Dave Eggers (Bestselling author, founder of McSweeney's, and cofounder of 826 Valencia)


BOOK BUYER, BOOKSTORE, AND LIBRARIAN REVIEWS

"As a book / object / artwork, this is just NUTS. And beautiful."--Simon Armstrong (Book buyer) "Tate Modern"


REVIEWS

STARRED REVIEW! ★ "Uncommonly beautiful... The sheer marvel of the design, together with the inclusive, open-ended mystery of what lies beyond the forest, makes this a wondrous piece of bookmaking for all ages. Much like a poem, it will evoke new emotions and layers of meaning with repeated readings."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books I've ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as bookmaking. It's a landmark."--Bruce Handy (Author of Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult)

"At first, it seems like the prose is merely describing a walk through a forest, but taken together, the words become deeply poignant. Bozzi meaningfully gestures towards love, hate, nostalgia, language, wisdom, death, and rebirth, usually indirectly. It's a beautiful object, with a stunning, highly tactile layout, and while it's not quite clear who the ideal audience would be―adults and artistically inclined teenagers might like it, too―those who connect with its enigmatic beauty will be transfixed."-- "Booklist"

"Bozzi invites readers on an expedition through the visually-captivating, carefully-illustrated and colorful forest created by Violeta Lópiz and Valerio Vidali. Readers will join explorers in uncovering the many wonders of the forest, old and new. Unveil the ecology of an ever-changing forest as you feel your way through the pages. The artistry of the foldouts, cutouts, embossed imagery, and bold illustrations deepen the senses with each page."--Samantha D'Acunto "LuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden"

"Clever, instantly arousing curiosity... Students of design will appreciate the construction and the lush, vibrant compositions."-- "Kirkus"

"Like a fairy-tale walk in the woods, The Forest is a thrilling visual excursion into uncharted territory featuring elaborate die-cuts, gatefolds and embossed images created by two artists from Italy and Spain."--Leonard Marcus "The New York Times"

"Like pretty much every title published by the small, independent Enchanted Lion books, it is a gorgeous, singular, unimprovable book... Somehow The Forest is a work of art that escapes feeling like an 'art object' -- it succeeds in being for children. The ink on its mylar dust jacket makes a distinctively beautiful sound. The eye-holes and occasional unfoldings alter a reader's sense of space. 'It is said that the forest has a certain limit if you look straight ahead, but the sides are boundless.' This book takes on even death: 'At the end of the climb there is a ravine into which each explorer will eventually fall, despite the precautions taken and the advancements of science.' This fall didn't bother my 4-year-old at all. She took interest in the new seedlings, the disappearance of the textured pages, and the return of the pines."--Rivka Galchen "The New York Times"

"Metaphysical poetry for kids? Little ones might not grasp the deeper meaning, but this gorgeously illustrated book begs to be explored: from the raised texture pages to the holes that demand little eyes look through to spy the next page. For older ones, it opens a wonderful world of questions: who are we, where did we come from, and where are we going?"-- "EcoParent Magazine"

"The vibrant forest and its creatures peeking through the die-cut eyes of the barely visible faces remind us that the human role in nature is not that of conqueror or king but of humble witness and passing visitor."--Maria Popova "Brain Pickings"

"This book is an undeniable treasure."-- "The Reading Ninja"

"Using the forest as a metaphor for life, this book will engage ecologically-conscious readers in a visual and sensory exploration of the human story. From the book's velum skin jacket to the last blank pages, we are invited to dwell with the universal mystery of life. Defying any particular dogmatic approach, its contents embrace all. For those willing to explore the book with the wonder of a child, each page turn will have you not only going deeper in the forest, but also witnessing the passage of time. Bozzi's writing captures an openness and a sense of mystery which, when paired with the book's actual physicality, may have each forest explorer come to see their lives anew, renewed, and renewable."--Lori Horbas "Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI)"

"What an absolutely gorgeous book this is!"-- "Sal's Fiction Addiction"

About the Author

Riccardo Bozzi is a journalist and has worked for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera since 1990. He is the author of The World Belongs to You, illustrated by Olimpia Zagnoli (Templar/Candlewick, 2013) and Cher auteur, illustrated by Giancarlo Ascari and Pia Valentinis (Hélium, 2016).

Violeta Lopiz is a Berlin-based Spanish illustrator. She has illustrated numerous books including The Forest (Enchanted Lion Books, 2018), Amigos do Peito (Bruaa, 2014), and Les poings sur les iles (Editions du Rouergue, 2011), which received the CJ Picture Book Award 2011 in the New Books category. She has participated in exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, USA, Japan, Korea, and more. El Cultural, the supplement of El Mundo, considers her one of the top ten names of contemporary Spanish illustration. Her work can be found in bookstores, streets, fairs, newspapers, and the thousands of notebooks that she leaves scattered around.

Valerio Vidali is an Italian illustrator of children's books. His book Jemmy Button (Templar/Candlewick, 2013), co-authored with Jennifer Uman, was selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2013.