Book Info

Children's Author 'Like-for-Like' recommendations

Synopsis

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

Once there was a boy and one day a penguin arrives on his doorstep. He decides to take the penguin home himself, and they set out in his row boat on a journey to the South Pole. But when they get there, the boy discovers that maybe home wasn't what the penguin was looking for after all! This book offers a tale of friendship and loneliness.

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Reviews

'An uplifting story...pictures of such spare beauty...suffused with a dreamlike quality.'
Independent Online
'Oliver Jeffers makes impressive use of space in this affecting story of friendship...illustrations capture feelings of loss and loneliness through the most delicate nuances of facial expression...and body language.'
Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian
'One of the most perfect stories in recent years featuring... one of the best conclusions in all of children's fiction. I can't wait until my nephew is old enough to read this with me, but until then, I'm more than happy to read it to myself. A minor masterpiece and one which will remain with you forever.'
Bury Free Press
'Jeffers has a unique writing and illustrative style. It's a wonderful picture book.'
Publishing News
'My picture book of the year, a joyful exploration of the power of friendship.'
Irish Independent

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About The Author

Oliver Jeffers is still relatively new to the world of book illustration and yet he has already won numerous awards and delighted millions of kids and parents alike with his beautifully hand illustrated stories. 

Jeffers's picture books are wonderfully accessible. They explore themes of friendship, loneliness, independence and imagination. He has written and illustrated, or "made", as he prefers to put it, five hugely successful picture books. The first three - the "boy books" - feature a small boy who sets off on a series of daunting quests. How to Catch a Star (2004), the first of them, was inspired by a Brer Rabbit story he read as a child. In Lost and Found (2005) the boy heroically rows to the south pole for the sake of an unhappy penguin, and in The Way Back Home (2007) he rescues a young Martian whose spaceship has crashed on the moon.

His latest The Heart and the Bottle is wholly compelling for the importance of its message and the brilliance of how that is conveyed in words and pictures. This is a book to return to time and time again says Julia Eccleshare, Lovereading4kids’ editorial expert.

Jeffers was born in Australia in 1977 and brought up in Belfast. He studied visual communication at the University of Ulster, and graduated in 2001. Jeffers became passionate about making picture books when he began to understand the subtle relationship between words and pictures – ‘that was what excited me. Until I got really involved, I hadn't realised how just a few words can totally change the meaning of a picture.’ Now living in New York, he works as a painter, designer, printmaker and installation artist, but remains very busy making picture books.

Did you know?

Oliver loves plastic food, suitcase handles and Elvis, and has developed a bizarre habit of endlessly writing lists he never reads. He remains hell bent on travelling all over the world.

You can see Oliver talking about his artwork in this video:

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