Loukko by 
Original title: Kesän ainoa kaunis päivä
Author: Maria Vilja
Published: 2024
Publisher: WSOY
Genre: Picture Books (0-3 Years)
Pages: 40
Reading material:
English edition, Finnish edition
A life-affirming picture book about a summer day out including both laughter and tears, love and arguing, sunshine and thunder clouds.
✓ Nominated for the 2024 Finlandia Prize in Children & YA literature and the Nordic Council’s Literature Prize 2025!
✓ Universally relatable theme that is tackled with powerful emotional honesty
✓ Maria Vilja is an author-illustrator with a background in social work and art education. She is also a winner of the Punni award.
Maria Vilja skillfully depicts the life of a family with children with all its emotions.
The sun and expectations are high when Eila and Aarno finally have a chance to go on a trek outdoors. Huffing and puffing, Mother is packing - something will definitely get forgotten. Then they run to catch the bus - and make it in just the nick of time! But when Aarno starts acting out and the camera gets broken, Mother loses her temper. Eila feels as if the sun has gone out at the very same moment.
Maria Vilja writes and draws about emotions and family relationships in a beautiful, sensitive way. A summer’s day includes both joy and tears, love and arguing, sunshine and thunderclouds. The message of the book is that everyone has a right to experience emotions, both children and adults. The hazy illustrations of the book are as if memories of a bygone summer.
“An expressive picture book where great expectations and small setbacks grow into a dark cloud that casts a shadow over a beautiful day trip. The mother’s glowing red skirt billows above it all like a bright, joyful flag—and when the storm hits, it becomes a place to hide in the dim red light. This richly colored total work of art vividly captures the deepest emotions of both children and adults.”
- 2024 Finlandia Prize Jury Children’s & YA Literature
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