The Invisible Elephant
The Invisible Elephant
by Anna Anisimova
Illustrated by Yulia Sidneva
Translated from the Russian by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 6–12
A 2024 USBBY Outstanding International Book
From beloved Finland-based children’s author Anna Anisimova comes a heartwarming, beautifully illustrated chapter book about a blind girl who joyfully explores her environment using her senses and vivid imagination, inviting young readers to understand their surroundings in new ways.
Hardcover ISBN: 9781632063243
Publication date: Aug 1, 2023
Other buying options:
For the young, blind heroine of The Invisible Elephant, the world is a thrilling place full of sounds, smells, and sensations. She encounters her surroundings with joy and an impressively creative imagination. In four charming stories, we accompany her to the zoo, the museum, an art class, and get a peek into her wonderfully magical mind, a place where it’s only natural that her grandfather's walking stick transforms into a horse and a sled becomes a whale. When the time comes for her to learn braille, we watch her family and friends cheer her on as she discovers how to navigate the world in her own way.
With gorgeous, inventive illustrations by Yulia Sidneva and artfully translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, The Invisible Elephant is a playful, engaging book that helps kids value all the different ways of seeing the world.
Praise for The Invisible Elephant
"Tirelessly cheerful...In Kemp’s applause-worthy translation, verbs empower, descriptions tickle and exclamation marks abound. Everything is exciting and full of wonder."
—Aditi Sriram, The New York Times
“A joyous story of unique abilities and possibilities.”
“[The main character] is lively, creative, and playful. She also feels young and in love with the world.”
—Jackie Friedman Mighdoll, World Kid Lit
“Written in a simple language full of wordplay and humour, it speaks to all ages, while inventive illustrations by Yulia Sidneva perfectly capture the fragile balance between the real world and the invisible.”
—Ekaterina Shatalova, Russian Kid Lit
“Most of all, I love the little girl and the family who nurtures her. Gradually we learn that for her, seeing is touching. In the title story, ‘The Invisible Elephant,’ she says: ‘But I really want to see this elephant. Where is it? I’ve never felt one before.’”
—Ann Dixon, Kid Lit North
“A set of delightfully crafted tales, which open up a new view to the world around us while adding a small touch of imagination along the way.”
“Yulia Sidneva’s bold use of patterns on clothing, flooring and sidewalks adds wonderful texture to the story and many of the pages highlight an adventurous bright sunny yellow elephant outline…Yes, I will be ordering this title more than once and it will not be in error.”
View the Illustrations
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Anisimova is a journalist, editor, and children’s book writer. Born and raised in the north of the Irkutsk region, in the village of Kropotkin, Siberia, Anisimova graduated with a degree in journalism from Novosibirsk State University. Anismova has written more than 10 books and been nominated for several literary awards including the Samuil Marshak Literary Prize, the New Children’s Book Prize, the Vladislav Krapivin International Children’s Literature Prize and others.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Yulia Sidneva is an artist and illustrator, and a member of Moscow Union of Artists. She graduated from the Moscow State University of Printing. In addition to illustrating children's books Sidneva also designs various printed products, gives master classes in book graphics, and works as a designer at Samokat Publishing House.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a literary translator working from Arabic, German and Russian into English. She translates fiction and nonfiction, and has a particular interest in history, historical fiction, and writing for children and young adults.Her translations include books from Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland and Syria. Ruth is a passionate advocate of world literature for young people and diversity in children’s publishing. She is co-editor of ArabKidLitNow! and Russian Kid Lit blogs, and writes about global reading for young people at World Kid Lit, Words Without Borders, and World Literature Today.
BOOK DETAILS
Hardcover ISBN: 9781632063243 • $22
Publication date: August 1, 2023
7.25" x 9.25"• 112 pages
Children's Fiction / Ages 6 - 12—illustrated chapter book / blindness / disability / Russia
Rights: World English