• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

A prize-winning, illustrated novel in verse about a young girl who dreams of being an artist, inspired by the life of Swedish artist Berta Hansson.

What do you do when it feels impossible to live up to everything expected of you? When the only person who understands you disappears? When you are young and long for something that seems out of reach?

Berta dreams of being an artist, but as a girl growing up in a small Swedish farming village in the 1920s, she has little hope. She finds solace in nature, and in drawing and shaping birds from clay for her mother, the only person who seems to truly understand her. When her mother succumbs to tuberculosis, Berta feels alone, in despair and even more burdened by all the work on the farm. Can she find the courage to defy her father and the social conventions of her time, and fly free?

This beautifully illustrated novel in verse, inspired by the paintings, letters and diaries of Swedish artist Berta Hansson (1910-1994), is a universal story of grief, longing and following your dreams.

Includes an afterword by journalist Alexandra Sundqvist.

Key Text Features
captions
photographs
biographical information

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

SARA LUNDBERG studied at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. She was a painter before she began to focus on picture books. She won the August Prize, Sweden’s highest literary honor, for the original edition of this book, among other awards. In addition to authoring several titles, she has illustrated more than thirty children’s books, including Skriv om och om igen, another August Prize winner. Sara lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sara Lundberg's profile page

B.J. EPSTEIN is a writer, editor and translator. She is also a Senior Lecturer in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. A native of Chicago, she now makes her home in Norwich, UK.

B.J. Epstein's profile page

• Short-listed, CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal
• Commended, A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the Year
• Commended, Mighty Village Spring Book Picks
• Commended, Evanston Public Library, 101 Great Books for Kids List

A pensive, thoughtful and thought-provoking read.

Fab Book Reviews Blog

The text itself is often spare and melancholy, translated beautifully from the original Swedish by Epstein, but it’s also infused with intimacy and familial warmth. The striking illustrations—of gouache, aquarelle, and collage—reflect the emotional journey. STARRED REVIEW

Booklist

Melancholy and moving.

Kirkus Reviews

[I]mpressive. Certainly worthy of discovery.

A Fuse #8 Production Blog

Lundberg’s handsome biography of self-discovery remembers an artist who came to know without a doubt who she was meant to be.

Publishers Weekly