The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Lindgren, Barbro

Andrei's Search

32 pp. | Farrar/R&S | April, 2000 | Trade ISBN 91-29-64756-8 $$14.00

(4) K-3 Translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard. Illustrated by Eva Eriksson. In this odd Swedish import, Andrei leaves the orphanage to search for his mother, whose disappearance hasn't been explained to him. When he finally finds her in an idyllic garden, the reader is left to work out the meaning of his discovery: Isn't she dead? Is this Andrei's fantasy? The unanswered questions are troubling; however, the delicate, unsentimental illustrations will appeal to this book's limited audience.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert