The Stone Balloon

✓ Gently explores themes of fairness, money and poverty, and childhood disappointment
✓ Celebrates imagination as a way of coping with difficult feelings
✓ The warm and honest tone resonates with both children and adults
✓ Maria Vilja is the winner of the Punni Children’s literature award + the Rudolf Koivu illustrators award, and a Finlandia Prize nominee!

Panu Has the Finest Balloon of All. This honest picture book brings a ray of light even to life’s greatest worries.

Panu wants a balloon, but his mother says they can’t afford one. Panu thinks that’s unfair. Why does his friend Rami get to have a balloon of his own, and a scooter, too? In the midst of his disappointment, Panu finds a very special stone: large, beautiful, and perfectly round. It’s almost as splendid as the showy helium balloons at the supermarket. But can a stone really be as good as a balloon?

Award-winning author-illustrator Maria Vilja’s beautiful artwork captures both the joy of spring and the muddy moments of sorrow. The Stone Balloon does not shy away from difficult questions.