The New Arrival

by Vanya Nastanlieva, Vanya Nastanlieva (Illustrator)

Overview

When you a little hedgehog, you must find your own place to live. Sam sets off to find his own and quickly does—in a lovely tree in a nice forest. There’s only one thing, one important thing, missing—friends. Will Sam be able to find someone to share and play with?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927018132
Publisher:	Simply Read Books
Publication date:	04/30/2013
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Vanya Nastanlieva grew up in Bulgaria and is now living in England.

She spent five years in the High School of Applied Art, majoring in Textile and Fashion in 1998.

After graduating she held her first solo exhibition, displaying 63 pieces of oil canvases, watercolor, distemper and black and white drawings. The exhibition led to illustrating Emil Spiridonv’s book, Stories for Wild Animals, which was published in 2000.

Over the years she has worked in different fields such as animation studios, children's magazines and newspapers, greetings card companies, crafts, and painting ceramics. In 2000 she began her studies at the National Academy of Art in Sofia and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2004, specializing in Book and Graphic Design. After graduating, her next workplace was the American company ‘World Wide FX Studio’-‘Nu Image’ in Bulgaria where she was employed as a storyboard and concept artist for the movies: ‘Rin Tin Tin’, ‘Wicker Man’ and other projects.

She recently graduated from the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art.

One of her final project was highly commended in the Macmillan Prize for Children's Book Illustration 2011.

Read an Excerpt

There once was a hedgehog named Sam. When you are little hedgehog, even a few weeks old, you must find your own place to live. Little Sam set off to find his.
Sam was happy. Soon he found a wonderful place to live.    
It was almost perfect, except . . .

Editorial Reviews

When Sam, a little hedgehog, moves into a tree in a new woodland, all that he is missing is companionship—a quandary he eventually tries to resolve by putting up signs on trees: “Wanted: A Friend. Hedgehog at the Hollow Tree.” Nastanlieva keeps readers in the know as rabbits, squirrels, and other animals secretly observe the hedgehog (“What’s he doing?” wonders a rabbit). When strong winds blow away both Sam’s notes and his quills, which he used to tack the notes to the trees, he falls into despair (“With no notes and no quills, I will never find a friend”), but a surprise welcome party signals mission accomplished. Nastanlieva’s illustrations combine autumnal honey and pea green shades with forceful pencil lines that evoke strong winds, rough bark, and scraggly undergrowth. The forest atmosphere, charming details (Sam shows up with his belongings in a traveler’s bindle), and tender formality of Nastanlieva’s introduction to the story—“When you are a little hedgehog, even a few weeks old, you must find your own place to live”—happily call to mind the Hundred Acre Wood. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-K—Sam, a young hedgehog, sets off to find a home and a friend in this quiet little offering with a European feel. Home, a lovely hollow at the base of a tree, is discovered quickly, but a friend proves more difficult to find. As Sam searches high and low, the illustrations, with their warm palette and cross-hatched drawings, reminiscent of the work of E. H. Shepard, allow young readers to see what hedgehog does not-that friends are all around, just waiting for him. When a tumble results in some broken quills, Sam uses them to post notices asking for a friend. In an odd twist, he pulls out almost all of his quills to continue posting notices that blow away in a storm. Happily, the other animals welcome him to the woodland and give him a knitted pullover (called a jumper here) to keep him warm until his quills grow back. An attractive addition for larger collections.—Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WI

School Library Journal

The new arrival in the neighborhood is Sam the homeless hedgehog, who has set off, Dick Whittington–style, with a bundle on a stick, to make his place in the world. He soon finds the perfect home inside a hollow tree in a forest, with plenty of fruit to eat and cozy surroundings, but there's only one drawback: He's lonely. He searches and searches but can't find any friends. He writes a lot of notes that he pins to trees with his broken quills. The animals find them and welcome him into their fold with open paws. A tired plot and somewhat clumsy narrative are alleviated by Nastanlieva's charming colored-pencil–and-watercolor illustrations, which use a muted palette of browns and olives to give a traditional feel. Visual variety is added by alternating the color spreads with striking monochromatic illustrations to convey a storm and nighttime. Curious readers might wonder how Sam manages to write the notes, since the artwork gives no clue. This is just a quibble, though, as the illustrations have enough liveliness to keep children engaged and reveal to them what Sam misses for most of the story: The seemingly deserted woodland is full of potential friends. The animals' speech is integrated into the illustrations, making a game of hide-and-seek for readers. Charming, if not refreshingly original. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Mo and Beau, by Vanya Nastanlieva:



"Ample white space keeps the focus squarely on these dramatically dissimilar animals (Beau's hulking form fills many of the spreads, while Mo rises barely above the bear's paw). It's a simple yet striking story about the dynamics of parallel play and of making friends."

~Publisher's Weekly



"Meet Mo and Beau, two instantly loveable characters. Very different in size and stature, but in many ways just the same...This is a great book to read aloud with a younger or emerging reader. With minimal text and a great bed time theme, it can’t fail to please any child or weary parent."

~Picture Books Blogger

From the Publisher