The Nightingale That Never Sang

For children, the world is possibility. But grown-ups would do well to remember that possibility extends to places full of light and steeped in darkness, with plenty of other spaces in between. Children are human after all, and as such, they are sometimes innocent, sometimes cruel, and frequently impossible for others to truly understand.
In her debut graphic novel, The Nightingale That Never Sang, Juliana Hyrri gives us stories that are stolen from real life, seen through a child's eyes--and do not look away when it comes to the scary parts. If it can happen out there, it can happen within these pages, too.
Her visual style comprises the smudged, scribbled, and smooth lines one might expect from a (very) young artist, but also pulsing, boundless backgrounds painted with near-manic energy. If there is any true purity to be found here, it's only in the reflection of how a child feels, before those feelings are tempered with adult ideas of what ought to be revealed in polite conversation.
Nightingale takes us along for the ride as children discover and dream their world, through glimpses of tadpoles and tent forts, field trips and forest ventures, stray cats and sleepovers. On the surface, these are scenes anyone might recognize from their own childhood, but it's really a book filled with the blank spaces that grown-ups won't talk about, scribbled over with childhood logic.

Author: Juliana Hyrri
Publisher: Featherproof Books
Published: 02/22/2022
Pages: 133
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.65lbs
Size: 9.70h x 6.70w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781943888269
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 11/01/2021 pg. 46

About the Author
Hyrri, Juliana: - Juliana Hyrri is a painter, cartoonist, and illustrator living and working in Helsinki, Finland. She holds an MA (in visual communication design--visual narrative path) from Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. In addition, she has completed minors in comics and illustration and studied art education. She likes cool pillows, soft fabric, and someone else taking the trash out. As a kid she wanted to be a bus driver because her dad, his brother, their father, and father's father drove the bus. She still does not have a driving license. She loves storytelling and is fascinated by innocent evil and moments when time seems to stand still.