240. Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle

Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle
Published September 2012 Allen & Unwin

From the publisher:
Nobody knows where they come from.
But they come.
Impossible birds of the big sky
and the long night...
So begins this timely and timeless story, told in magnificent images and words by master storyteller, Tohby Riddle. A triumph of quiet beauty.



Here is a book that will probably divide readers. It would be classed as a picture book, except that it is 128 pages long, and has a few carefully chosen words, it is really a beautifully illustrated poem, and the text is printed in full, at the back of the book.

When I look at a book like this one I tend to look at with two different sets of eyes, my bookseller eyes and my book lover eyes. My book loving eyes think that this book is beautiful and memorable, it will make you think and you will want to read it again as soon as you have finished it. My bookseller eyes can pass all of that on to my customers, but the decision to buy the book will be up to their own personal tastes.

It is a story of angels, guardian angels who come to earth unseen, with the task if healing and comforting those of us who need it. For one such angel, this need is so great that it becomes overwhelmed and it begins to wander the earth until  eventually it stops to rest. At first it sits, still invisible to most, until the day the angel begins to to turn to stone, and people begin to see him.  This helper of humanity now needs our help to return him to his path, the only question is whether or not anyone will care enough to do so.

This isn't a book that I think you must go out and buy, but it is a book that you must go out and at least read, then you may make up your own mind.

Who will like this book: Book lovers age 10+
Read it if you like: The Arrival by Shaun Tan