Aina Ponoi

A charming fantasy novel about Oboi who whilst searching for his lost sister ends up in an astonishing world of Aina Ponoi.

Could reading be super dangerous? Can a book be a freeway ticket to another world? Young Oboi doesn’t believe in stories, but ends up swept in one when he finds an entrance ticket in the middle of a mysterious book. The book takes Oboi to a strange fantasy world, Aina Ponoi, where he must find his sister.

Aina Ponoi is a place where everything is possible and Oboi is able to escape his worries – health troubles and his mother’s new relationship – for even a little while.

A standalone sequel to The Book of Oboi.


The Duck Who Was Afraid of Eagles

Rotka, the ski jumping Eagle, just wants to bully others. What should the other birds do? A picture book about real courage.

The life of the Duck and other birds in the Joyful House is as soft and sweet as dessert dough. Until, one Wednesday, some eagles start building a ski jumping tower next to them.

First the eagles jump towards the House, then they come to the yard to bully the bird friends, and on Saturday they are already moving into the house!

What should the Duck do if he is too scared to stay, but also too scared to leave?

Independent sequel to the Nordic Council Award nominated picture book The Duck Who Was Afraid to Fly.


The Book of Oboi

In the city where nobody reads – can a book save the World? What about an orphaned boy who doesn’t believe in stories?

  • Veera Salmi is the bestselling author of over 20 titles.

A spectacular novel about a world where literacy has been decimated and a boy who does not believe in stories. Thirteen-year-old Oboi has run away to find his former homestead. He ends up in a peculiar and disaster-stricken city where no one knows how to read. People are led by the mysterious Wanda, who, via devices hooked up to one’s palm, says what everyone should know or do. At a flea market, Oboi meets a woman who gives him a book. According to her, this book can change everything and help find what Oboi thought was lost forever. Suddenly the story-averse Oboi notices he has become the hero, that orphaned boy deemed to save the whole world.

PRAISE:

In Veera Salmi’s youth novel straight out of the oven, literacy is lost and people are controlled by technology – The Book of Oboi praises stories, adventure and dreams.

– Keskipohjanmaa newspaper, Finland

In Veera Salmi’s youth novel straight out of the oven, literacy is lost and people are controlled by technology – The Book of Oboi praises stories, adventure and dreams.

Keskipohjanmaa newspaper, Finland


A Beautiful Day to Die

Isra has decided to die. But before that she needs to complete a rescue mission! Embark on a road trip with Isra, her friend Leo, 900 euros and a stolen sky-blue Hyundai.

Leo and Isra are not the most popular kids of their high school. They don’t have high expectations, and nobody expects much of them. So why not take a break from school – and a break from life, and try to do something meaningful before it’s all too late?

Funny, realistic and tragic story of teenagers who don’t know what they want, and are tired of trying to figure it out on their own.


Veera Salmi

Veera Salmi (1976) is a writer who lives in Helsinki. Prior to her career as a writer she worked for 15 years as a kindergarten teacher. The real starting point for her career as a writer was given by the children in the kindergarten, who said they no longer wanted to hear the same old stories that take place somewhere in the countryside. They wanted to hear stories about the city, the kind of place where they themselves lived. So she started writing such stories. First she wrote urban stories for children, then for adults and now for young adults as well. Veera Salmi is a bestselling author of over 20 books.

A Beautiful Day to Die is her brand new, urban young adults’ novel – even though the characters also leave the city. When Salmi wrote the book she travelled around Helsinki by metro, and listened to the teenagers and young adults, making notes about the rich, innovative and international language they used.