The Surprise - Hardcover

Smith, Zadie; Laird, Nick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593525973 ISBN 13: 9780593525975

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2022

Synopsis

This back-to-school season, individuality is in! Nothing makes a splash like being uniquely yourself—and celebrating what makes you different.

From acclaimed authors Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, with art from exciting newcomer Magenta Fox, comes a powerful picture book debut!

"[A] delightful tale for little oddballs everywhere."—Entertainment Weekly

Meet Maud: a guinea pig who inexplicably wears a judo suit—and not everyone understands or approves. When Maud is thrown into a new and confusing situation, it takes brave decisions and serendipitous encounters for her to find her place and embrace her individuality.

The Surprise is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by New York Times bestselling author Zadie Smith and award-winning writer Nick Laird, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator, Magenta Fox. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.

About this title

About the Author

Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and a collection of short stories, Grand Union. Zadie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002, and was listed as one of Granta's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. White Teeth won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of fiction at New York University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
 
Nick Laird is the recipient of many prizes for his poetry and fiction, including the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Ireland Chair of Poetry Award, the Betty Trask Prize, a Somerset Maugham award, and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He is on faculty at New York University and Professor of Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University in Belfast. His latest collection Feel Free was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Award and the Derek Walcott Prize.

Magenta Fox was born in southwest London in 1994. She studied English at the University of Exeter and since moving back to London in 2015, has been working as a children's book designer. These days she works freelance—illustrating, writing, and designing children's books from her flat in south London.

Reviews

K-Gr 2—A guinea pig wearing a judo outfit is Kit's surprise birthday present. When Kit leaves her apartment to go to school, the new pet, also known as the Surprise, finds her differences are being judged and are creating a disparaging conversation among the other pets in the household; Dora a cat, Paul a parrot, and Bob a hard-of-hearing pug. The established pets quickly label her as odd and ignore her. The Surprise, wanting to fit in, tries to copy the other pets in their appearance, style, and physical abilities only to find her efforts cause her to be blown out of the apartment's window by an inconvenient gust of wind. Luckily, she is rescued by a sympathetic neighbor and oddball herself, Emily Brookstein. The two spend the day together and the Surprise discovers that being an oddball can be a good thing. Emily returns the new pet to Kit when school is over and the Surprise learns she has been given the name Maud. Maud is summarily accepted by the other pets and teaches them judo. This simple story of rejection then acceptance is sweet but predicable. Fox's illustrations boasting a soft watercolor-like palette are complex and unassuming simultaneously. Her characters are expressive, while the setting is filled with delightful detail and energy. VERDICT This charming story embraces friendship, self-discovery, and fun. For its relatable message, it would be a good addition to a classroom, library, or school counselor's anti-bullying picture book collection.—Lynne Stover

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593525973
• ISBN 13: 9780593525975
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Fox Magenta
• Number of pages: 32