Du Iz Tak?

Product Information

The creator of Home turns a droll eye to the natural world, with gorgeous art and a playful invented language.

Here's a bright, refined fantasy world to be lost in, and one that has its dark, seasonal drama to boot. A discerning eye and ear are prerequisites for decoding this elegantly esoteric concoction, and they are outcomes, too. Attention is firmly focused on the set, cleverly built from a suitcase and table with a rolling canvas backdrop.

There’s a touch of magical realism to Ellis’s story; the cricket plays a violin, damsel flies build a tree house, the ladybird likes to relax in a deckchair and read a book (in her own language we assume. Beneath a broadcloth sky, to a music-box tune, insects in hats or with spectacles emerge, chatting their own insect language, getting ready for whatever the new day brings. Their miniature world is alluringly well-realized and includes an invented language, which young readers delight in decoding. Ellis is best known as an illustrator, and her oversized gouache and ink spreads deftly balance playfulness and precision, intricacy and airy background…Readers-aloud will want a practice run to ensure their intonation carries the meaning of the words, but it will all make perfect and pleasing sense to imaginative listeners. The book offers a fabulous bugs' eye view of the world and its wonders with plenty of untold stories to explore.

The creator of Home explores the astonishing changes in a garden, where insects talk their own mysterious language. Every time we read this book we discover new things and I feel that it is teaching my child about nature and discovery, feelings, loss and rebirth. was made as a labour of love during 2020 lockdown by Annie Brooks and Katherine Morton - created from leftover scraps, dolls house remnants and an old suitcase found in the loft. With exquisitely detailed illustrations and tragicomic flair, Carson Ellis invites readers to imagine the dramatic possibilities to be found in even the humblest backyard. Carson Ellis has created a fantastic microcosm with her usual grace and inventiveness…I was completely captivated by Ellis’s wonderful creatures, their charming little world and their droll language.Just as with nature, a child can begin to see and appreciate the subtle changes, the growth of the plant, the new inhabitants that arrive and the story that unfolds as the cycle of nature unwraps around the text. The story, nominally about the life cycle of a plant experienced by the nattily dressed insects that live around it, is written entirely in dialogue, in a “bug language” invented by Ellis. There’s an elusive yet distinctly joyful quality to Carson Ellis’s picture book that feels like suspended glee, or a laugh caught halfway in the throat. But this is the wild world, after all, and something horrible is waiting to swoop down— booby voobeck! I don’t speak Chinese so these bugs really do seem to be speaking a language I truly don’t understand.

It’s a genuinely charming story with brain-tickling interest from the dialogue, and it earns a satisfying edge from the silent and decisive victory over the spider. Ellis (Home, 2015) elevates gibberish to an art form with her brilliant account of a few bugs, who discover a green shoot sprouting from the ground…Readers and pre-readers alike will find myriad visual cues in Ellis’ splendid folk-style, gouache-and-ink illustrations that will allow them to draw meaning from the nonsensical dialogue, as well as observe the subtle changing of the seasons. If working at an office location and you are not "logged in", simply close and relaunch your preferred browser. I had it translated in my head, but I hadn’t written it down,” Ellis said, “so when Liz asked, ‘Does this actually mean anything?Much discussion goes on in bug language and it is fun to guess what the creepy-crawlies might be saying. She also collaborated with her husband, Colin Meloy, on the bestselling Wildwood series, and created the art for the albums of his indie band, The Decemberist s. Ellis’s ( Home) bewitching creation stars a lively company of insects who speak a language unrelated to English, and working out what they are saying is one of the story’s delights…Very gently, Ellis suggests that humans have no idea what wonders are unfolding at their feet—and that what takes place in the lives of insects is not so different from their own.

As a kid one thing I was really interested in was that microcosmic world that’s going on around plants, and I thought other kids would also be interested in that.Here’s a bright, refined fantasy world to be lost in, and one that has its dark, seasonal drama to boot. But even for the novice like me the creative text is understandable and the piece a predominantly visual feast. Children and adults alike can guess at what the 'bug words' might mean and in doing so, inadvertently create a narrative all by themselves. Come and peer into a miniature world of little puppets to see a delightful group of friends exploring their ever-changing home.