The Book of Stone and Water

Written by: Katri Tapola
Illustrated by: Selja Raudas
Release date: April 2025
ISBN: 978-952-7581-11-7
Number of pages: 32 pages
Size: 23 x 19 cm
Age recommendation: 3+

It doesn't always take many words to provide security, but new words are needed. The Book of Stone and Water is a delicate picture book about a difficult home situation. The book describes the oppressive atmosphere of the home from a child's perspective. It is about the child's rights to recognize their own truth in life. Picture book art can bring out
big things in a format that is easily accessible to both the child and the adult studying the book with the child. It enables equality and the handling of issues in a safe environment and knows no age limits. The book is a mirror that can be used to name feelings and phenomena and that carries with it the promise of hope and the possibility of change. The book includes word art tasks that support safety skills education, as well as contact information for children in need of support and adults working with them.

Katri Tapola is a writer who has published around forty works for children, adults and young people and has worked with several illustrators. Tapola's debut work was awarded the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and her first children's novel the Arvid Lydecken Prize . The picture book There You Are was selected for the IBBY Honour List 2022 “For the quality of its writing.” Multilingual picture book art is a significant enabler of equality for Tapola. Tapola received the Tirlittan Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature from the Finnish Writers' Association in 2023 in recognition of her entire output and work for the benefit of Finnish literature.

Selja Raudas is a painter whose paintings often have an observation as their background.
space, place or even light. The Book of Stone and Water is the fourth illustrated picture book by Selja Raudas.