I knew you were out there
before you were born.
You were out there somewhere,
hidden from me.
– Jenni Erkintalo: My Little Lovely One
The beautifully and surprisingly illustrated work tells about the mystery of the birth and existence of every person and the unique situation it creates. The work touches both young and old readers on the brink of a new life, and the illustration stimulates imagination and offers the joy of discovery at the same time. For every little reader, the book tells about exactly how important and special they are on this earth. – The Finnish Book Foundation
Aimed at babies, toddlers and their parents and those expecting a baby, My Little Lovely One is a beautiful poetic picture book, in which the readers can marvel at the baby's loveliness and wonder about his/her whereabouts. The narrator of the book impatiently waits for the birth of her baby and looks for it everywhere in her tender poems. Reading the book creates a fun game of hide-and-seek when the little lovely one of the text is not immediately found on the richly illustrated pages. The book makes you play along and wonder who is the lovely one in your family?
Jenni Erkintalo (b. 1978, Rauma) is a children's author, illustrator and publisher. She has studied graphic design and illustration at Aalto University and storytelling at Konstfack, Stockholm. Erkintalo's picture book Mato ja meri (Etana Editions 2019) was awarded The White Raven 2019 by the International Youth Library, and in 2016 she was awarded the Punni Prize Honorable Mention for the book Millainen minä? (Etana Editions 2016).
Erkintalo has illustrated and written nine children's picture books, four of which together with Réka Király. Her works have been translated into Spanish, Galician, Chinese, Korean, Hindi and Japanese. Etana Editions, a publishing house specializing in children's picture books founded by Erkintalo and Király in 2014, received the State Prize for Children's Culture 2020 awarded by The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). My Little Lovely One represents Etana's own, cross-border picture book, where text and image both alone and together open new worlds for little readers.
Age group: 0-3 years
ISBN 978-952-710-5917
Publisher: Etana Editions 2023