Lost And Found [Hardcover]

PreSchool-Grade 2–Once there was a boy who found a penguin at his door. From this opening line to the very end, this gentle story of friendship will capture young readers' imaginations. The child assumes that the penguin is lost, which is logical since the lumpy black-and-white bird does look awfully forlorn. Determined to help the creature find its way home, he discovers that penguins come from the South Pole, and the two board a rowboat. During their long sea voyage, the youngster passes the time by telling his companion many stories. However, when they finally reach their destination, he realizes that the penguin was not lost, but just lonely and looking for a friend. The soft watercolor paintings feature simple shapes and a palette that ranges from pale to bold. The boy has a square body, stick legs, and a round head with tiny dot eyes and an expressive mouth. For much of the tale, the characters are placed on crisp white backdrops, while colorful ocean scenes depict their journey. The text's subtle humor and the appealing visuals make this title a wonderful read-aloud.–Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

PreS-K. On his doorstep, a little boy finds a penguin looking sad and lost, and he tries to help the wordless bird. When the boy discovers that penguins come from the South Pole, he takes his new friend there by rowboat, telling him stories along the way. He helps the penguin ashore and casts off. The penguin sadly watches him float away. Realizing his mistake, the boy returns for the penguin, misses him, finds him, hugs him, and takes him back in his rowboat. A sense of restraint underlies the illustrations, from the spare use of color to the isolation of the individual characters on the page. With clean lines and varied compositions, the watercolor paintings tell the story with a minimum of fuss but no lack of feeling. But unlike characters in the soppier sort of picture books on friendship, the boy and the penguin don't gush; they just quietly enjoy being together. With a succinct narrative text and a series of expressive illustrations, this is a fine choice for reading aloud. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Praise for 'Lost and Found': 'An uplifting story!pictures of such spare beauty!suffused with a dreamlike quality.' Independent Online 'Oliver Jeffers makes impressive use of space in this affecting story of friendship!illustrations capture feelings of loss and loneliness through the most delicate nuances of facial expression!and body language.' Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian 'Beautifully illustrated, simple warm story!little children will love to share it.' Carousel 'Jeffers has a unique writing and illustrative style. It's a wonderful picture book.' Publishing News 'One of the most perfect stories in recent years featuring! one of the best conclusions in all of children's fiction. I can't wait until my nephew is old enough to read this with me, but until then, I'm more than happy to read it to myself. A minor masterpiece and one which will remain with you forever.' Bury Free Press 'My picture book of the year, a joyful exploration of the power of friendship.' Irish Independent Praise for 'How to Catch a Star': 'The best recent picture book by light years! stylishly spellbinding.' Telegraph 'A story about possibilities and disappointments with a triumphant ending, all of which Jeffers captures through the beautifully expressive changing moods of his little boy.' The Guardian 'This is a magical, beautifully illustrated tale about reaching for dreams.' Mail on Sunday 'Hail to new talent! If only all picture books could be this good.' The BooksellerReviews for How to Catch a Star "!the best recent picture book by light years, is stylishly spellbinding" Telegraph "If the title sounds magical and optimistic to you, it's probably because that's exactly what this book is" Junior (BOOK OF THE MONTH) "A stunning debut!" Books for Keeps (NEW TALENT) "How to Catch a Star is a beautiful debut picture book from an extremely talented and innovative illustrator. This is a fantastic story which teaches children that if you wish hard enough your dreams just may come true" The Bookseller "Hail to new talent! If only all picture books could be this good" The Bookseller

One day a penguin arrives on a boy’s door step. The boy decides the penguin must be lost and tries to return him. But no one seems to be missing a penguin. So the boy decides to take the penguin home himself, and they set out in his rowing boat on a journey to the South Pole. But when they get there, the boy discovers that maybe home wasn’t what the penguin was looking for after all…

Oliver Jeffers was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia in 1977 and bred in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As a teenager, he thoroughly enjoyed playing the spoons and travelled the land frequenting every pub he could find looking for a group of musicians to harmoniously add his percussive talents to. Unfortunately, no-one recognised his musical talent, so to force some other way of fitting in, Oliver painted them instead. It was when he came runner-up in The Irish News amateur art competition in 1995 that he seriously considered painting as a direction in which to take his life. It was a good decision, as since then Oliver has travelled the globe extensively, exhibiting his work in New York, Sydney, Melbourne, London, Belfast and Glengormley. He made his name as a young contemporary artist with several small exhibitions in Belfast between 1995 and 1998. At this time, Oliver also began illustrating book jackets for local publishing houses. Whilst taking a break from university during 1999-2000, Oliver travelled across America and Australia, settling in Sydney for a period to work in freelance illustration and painting. In Australia, he illustrated for various magazines and got his first big break when Lavazza Coffee Company saw his offbeat coffee illustrations. They subsequently commissioned him to paint some pictures for their HQ and to illustrate their Christmas cards. They also featured him in a live exhibition during the Aroma coffee festival at The Rocks, Sydney, where he illustrated on site in front of thousands of people, using coffee rings and black ink. Oliver returned from his travels in 2000 to finish his degree at the University of Ulster. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Illustration and Visual Communication. During his final year, he had a prominent exhibition of portraiture in the John Hewitt Bar, Belfast. The exhibition was entitled 'Boys At The Bar', and depicted the afternoon (and morning!) drinking culture of Belfast. It attracted a great deal of media attention and all 16 pieces sold on the opening night. Oliver's eye-catching style of artwork has taken him in many directions, including poster illustration, painting 10 commissioned artworks for a London bar and designing album covers. He paints in an impressive range of styles and sizes with a wide variety of media, and is currently experimenting by pushing the creative boundaries of picture books. Oliver began writing and illustrating children's stories when he realised that people didn't believe what he did with his time. He has had a number of adventures that he has collected into his books for children; his debut picture book, 'How to Catch a Star', was inspired by a moment sitting on the end of a jetty in Sydney, looking at the stars. Not having an agent, Oliver sent his work unsolicited to HarperCollins Publishers. Its potential was immediately recognised, it was whisked off the slush pile and the publishing process began. In 2004, the book was published by HarperCollins Children's Books and was also short listed for the Booktrust Early Years Award for Best New Illustrator. In 2005, 'How to Catch a Star' won a Merit Award at the CBI/Bisto Book of Year Awards.

After the international success of 'How to Catch a Star', Oliver went on to produce the breathtakingly beautiful follow-up, 'Lost and Found', which garnered fantastic sales and critical acclaim on publication and went on to win the Gold Award at Nestle Children's Book Prize in 2005.

He continues to exhibit his art in major cities of the world and was recently commissioned to produce illustrations for Starbucks' nation-wide in-store displays in the UK Oliver loves plastic food, suitcase handles and Elvis, and has developed a bizarre habit of endlessly writing lists he never reads. He remains hell bent on travelling all over the world.