Selling points
• GOLD STANDARD: Hekla and Laki won the 2022 “Pépite d’or” (Gold nugget), one of France’s top honors for children’s literature, at the Montreuil children’s book fair.
• BREAKTAKING BEAUTY: Schneider’s illustration style, presented largely in blue and orange hues, offers incredible depth to a story already ripe with symbolism.
•
• -
• BROUGHT TO LIFE: This beautifully written tale gives readers young and old a nuanced perspective on the subject of life and death, creating an entry point for discussion.
• BLOWING UP: Author and illustrator Marine Schneider has 11.2K followers on Instagram.
Hekla and Laki
Text and illustrations:
Marine Schneider
Hardcover with jacket
64 pages
Width: 10”
Height: 12,5”
Ages: 6 to 9 Grade: T-5
Publication date: September 17 2024
Full-color illustrations throughout
ISBN: 9781990252310
Price: US$21.99 CAN$24.99
Fiction
Distributed in the US by Abrams and in Canada by Manda Group
A comforting, poetic picture book about the beauty and brutality of life and death, inspired by two Icelandic volcanoes.
Other titles by this creator
Little Bear, Baby Bear (Marine Schneider
– Abrams, 2022), The Path (Reif Larsen, Marine Schneider, Little Gestalten, 2021)
Carried in by a strong wind, a tiny creature named Hekla twirls delicately into a crater, falling at the feet — and, very suddenly, into the life — of an old giant named Laki. Each is vastly different from the other: Laki is a solitary being, preferring order and calmness, while Hekla is young, spirited, and messy. But in their newfound state of coexistence, they learn to live together and help each other grow, forging an attachment that binds them in life — and in death. Inspired by two Icelandic volcanoes, Hekla and Laki is a masterstroke of text and image about the beauty and the brutality oflife, the passing of knowledge over time, and the sense of optimism that emerges in death. Marine Schneider is a Belgian author and illustrator, who decided, at age five, that she would grow up to make children’s books. After studying illustration in Ghent and travelling the world, she began her career by illustrating three books for children’s
author Elisabeth Helland Larsen. Schneider’s most recent work, Hekla et Laki, was awarded the 2022 “Pépite d’or” — one of France’s top honors for children’s literature — at the Montreuil children’s book fair. She lives and works in Brussels.