Puffin (9+)
9780241651964 (Hardback)
Reading resources coming soon
Please consult our group leader information for guidance on taking part in shadowing.
A seemingly endless winter threatens Fia’s village. She sets out on a quest to find the Deer Mother, and bring forth the winter solstice with her snow deer Solas at her side. There’s a timeless quality to the writing in this seamless verse novel. Readers are taken on a real journey from darkness into light and feel every icy moment of the hardships encountered along the way.
The ancient feel of the story of Fia and Solas the snow deer is significantly enhanced by the striking and unique illustrations. Subtle body-language and eye contact really capture the closeness of their relationship. There’s an aesthetic and technical brilliance in the use of light and dark with white space being used to great effect to simultaneously represent snow and make pops of colour feel both vital and warm. Paleolithic art aesthetics help evoke place and time, and a pervading sense of the cold lingers throughout
Themes:
Please complete the form below and click 'submit' to send your review to your Shadowing Group Leader.
Dermot Flynn is originally from Ireland, where he studied at Dublin’s NCAD. En route to London, he completed his MA at the University of Brighton. He now teaches and works as a freelance illustrator for clients such as Publicis, Target USA, the Guardian, The Irish Times, Carton LeVert, McCann, DDB, Dentsu, 180 Amsterdam and Adidas. In his spare time he plays the cello, cycles and skates around London.
Eilish Fisher grew up in a 200-year-old haunted farmhouse in the Vermont, but has lived most of her life in Ireland so considers herself both a Vermonter and Irish and brings the legends and history of both to her writing. She has Degree in English, History and Medieval Irish Studies, a Master’s degree in Early Medieval Irish History and Literature and a Doctorate in Medieval English Literature from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUI Maynooth). She has also received both a Words Ireland mentorship and a full Literary Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.