Written by Roxane Marie Galliez. Illustrated by Sandrine Lhomme. First US edition, 2008. Published in the US by Hammond World Atlas Corporation of Langenscheidt Publishing Group.
"I once was happy. The world bright and oh so happy...
"And then one day I felt alone and small.
But I wasn't alone.
"I was face-to-face with a BIG sadness.
"It was such a BIG sadness that it
overtook me. It seemed to be everywhere.
"It was such a heavy sadness to carry.
For me to get out, I had to eat away at it."
The boy in the poem has no name, for he is everyone who's ever been deeply sad and struggled to "eat away at it". He consumes the sadness and realizes that he is changed, for the better, but he's left wanting something more. The sound of laughter reaches him and he finds a friend and discovers love, and he is happy once again.
French artist Sandrine Lhomme created a healing world of green trees and grass, blue earth and sky, and represented sadness is a huge black pencil scrawl. It's a near-perfect picture of confusion and dark feelings. The idea of devouring it until you're bigger than whatever is making you sad is a powerful thought.
Roxane Marie Galliez (1973 - ) is a French journalist and poet, and author of numerous children's books, including Time for Bed, Miyuki, Give Me The Moon, and The Earth Has Caught a Cold.
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Condition: Very Good/Very Good. Dust jacket: Front has two small closed tears, top right and bottom right; back has two small closed tears, upper right; minor edge wear and ruffling along the bottom. Slightly bumped on the top corner of the back cover board.
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