Pina

by Elif Yemenici, Sidney Wade (Translator)

Overview

Shelf Awareness Starred Review: "Pina sparkles with enchantment from beginning to end."

This story of Pina’s fear to venture out of his door into the wide world will resonate with timid, imaginative kids.

Pina explores the haunted country of the imagination where children struggle to place themselves in the big scary world. Pina’s fear to venture out of his little house into the wide world will resonate with timid kids.The techniques he uses to overcome his fear—mindful breathing,thinking of his favorite things, carrying a familiar, comforting object with him when he leaves the house—will prove useful to many children. It took the author two years to sculpt little Pina (named after the author’s cat, which she named after German-born choreographer Pina Bausch), build his shadow-box home, photograph the book’s scenes,and add Photoshop layers to create the book’s arresting illustrations. Pina offers safe access for young readers to the scary territory explored by Coraline, The Night Gardener, and other stories for older kids.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884489481
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Elif Yemenici has illustrated eighty picture books. She has extraordinary range as an illustrator—see www.elifyemenici.com—and a powerful ability to capture a child’s imagination, wayward, intuitive, fearful, dark, magical.

Sidney Wade is a poet, translator, and professor residing in Gainesville, Florida. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Houston, an MEd in counseling from the University of Vermont, and a BA in philosophy from the University of Vermont.

Editorial Reviews

"Starred Review

Turkish children's book writer and artist Elif Yemenici explores the challenge of confronting fears through a mesmerizing excursion with her distinctive title character, Pina. Yemenici evokes a gothic, even mystical atmosphere with her extraordinary illustrations, which in turn \meld beautifully with the tone of the tale. Pina is a true adventure in plot and art—every page turn brings another exciting discovery to treasure.

Pina is afraid to leave his cozy, safe home. Unfortunately, he's encountered a conundrum: he is out of cheese. Pina's "knees quaked with fear as he timidly opened the door," but he employs coping techniques like deep breathing and positive thinking to ferry himself through the challenge. Yemenici balances the relatability of Pina's fears with the humor of his irrational thoughts, "If he walked too close to buildings, a flowerpot might fall on his head from a window ledge above." This harmony eases the fright factor and should enable young readers to delight in Pina's success.

The true prize in this picture book is Yemenici's incredible art. She sculpted Pina, built a shadowbox home for him and photographed all the scenes of the story over the course of two years, brilliantly harnessing perspective, focus and lighting to enhance emotion. The detail is exceptionally lifelike, grabbing the audience's attention with each new page. The absence of color for scenes outside Pina's house adds to the forbidding atmosphere and enhances the suspense. Pina sparkles with enchantment from beginning to end."

Pina - Shelf Awareness - Jen Forbus

"PINA is a "a marvelous example of what the best picture books are capable of doing"

Review of the Day: Pina - SLJ - Betsy Bird