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‘We need the literature of other countries to expand our
horizons and stimulate our ideas. Without it, we are not only
diminished, we are starved’
(The Times, Magnus Linklater 29/06/05)

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Title: Joao By a Thread

Author: Roger Mello

Translator: Daniel Hahn

Illustrator:

Publisher: Elsewhere Editions (USA)

Date Published: 2022

Format: Hardback

Genre:

Book Category: Picture Book

Age Range: 6-8

Original Title: First published in Portuguese as Joao por um fio, Companhia Letres, Brazil, 2006

Country of Origin: Brazil

Joao By a Thread

by Roger Mello
Age Range: 6-8

João curls up in bed and tucks himself under his blanket. “em He thinks, “Alone with myself?” As he begins to drift off to sleep surreal dreams take over and João’s blanket begins to unravel turning into a mountain range – “Feet play their game, making earthquakes under the blanket.” – then mountains become valleys, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and “Dreams soaked in fear?”. As João’s worries and his doubts increase so too do the gaping holes that grow bigger and bigger until a large hole appears that swallows up everything leaving one long solitary single white thread. When João wakes he sees a jumble of words in the middle of this emptiness. Using a question mark as a needle “he sews the words like patchwork into a blanket” and at last, João can have a peaceful sleep.

Brazilian author and illustrator Roger Mello has created a remarkable multi-layered and philosophical tale that has so much hidden meaning. This is truly a magical book with its whimsical and poetic text, beautifully translated by Daniel Hahn, and the atmospheric shapeshifting line drawings, which are so delicate like fine needlework with its range of complex shapes and symbols. There is so much to look at that at first glance you can miss some of the fine detail and imagery within each picture. Set against a stark red or black background the white intricate threads are enhanced as they weave and dance across the pages.

Mello dedicates João By a Thread to the children of the Uros Islands of Lake Titicaca, the famous floating islands where the people have preserved this way of life for hundreds of years and where handwoven and knitted textiles are a part of their cultural heritage. In an afterword at the back of the book, Mello explains that he grew up in the Brazilian Savanna under an authoritarian regime and came to realise “what a powerful object the book was, that people could be arrested just for owning them. So I decided to make my own blanket of scattered letters. From animal tales to contemporary arts, I pulled on the thread that connects today’s books to an ancient tradition. Just like the first piece of fabric that sheltered a sleeping child on Lake Titicaca.” João By a Thread is an honor winner of the 2023 Mildred L. Bachelder Award and the second honor for the Roger Mello and Daniel Hahn team, who were previously honored for You Can’t Be Too Careful in 2018.

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