Age 4-9

This moving picturebook is based on an encounter between Michael Foreman and a Chilean he met outside Santiago. Manuel lived in a shanty town which survived by scavenging the rubbish tips of the city. The book is about Mia, a girl who lives in this way with her family, and about a discovery she makes in the snowy mountains — a white flower that she cultivates and sells. It is also, appropriately on Father’s Day, the story of her close relationship with her father (who could be Manuel) and their shared hopes for a better future.

Besides the poignancy of the text, Mia’s Story is remarkable for its skilful drawings of the shanty town, the mountains, the cathedral and market square of Santiago, of bowler-hatted musicians, of Mia in her poncho and woollen hat with earflaps, and of her parents, her puppy and her horse. Some are pencil alone but most are coloured in Foreman’s characteristic luminous watercolour, with his beloved turquoise.

Foreman already has a distinguished reputation as an illustrator, but this is his finest work to date.

(Walker £10.99)

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