The Really Beautiful Thing
Age 3+
Picture Storybooks
A cautionary tale that explores the difficult issues of greed and obsession for the youngest readers.
Squirrel is prepared to sell everything he has for The Really Beautiful Thing, but at what cost?
Squirrel isn’t sure what The Really Beautiful Thing is – or even what it does – all he knows is that he wants it. When he can’t afford the price, he sells his comfy sofa, his fridge full of food, and even the house he shared with his friends . . . The Really Beautiful Thing costs Squirrel everything, and when it turns out to be A Really Useless Thing, will his friends be there to help him pick up the pieces?"
Creators
Frances Tosdevin studied Archaeology, Anthropology and Classics at Cambridge, so she has a certain fondness for old things, and when she was little, she longed to own a real dinosaur. She has been shortlisted five times in picture book competitions, and in 2022, she was thrilled to win the Crystal Kite Award for her debut picture book. Frances lives in Bedfordshire, and enjoys nature, theatre and gardening, as well as spending time with her growing family of grandchildren.
Ali Pye studied fashion at Central St Martins, then worked in advertising. But it was her dream to be an illustrator, so she enrolled on the MA in illustration at Kingston University - which was one of the best things she'd ever done. Since graduating in 2010 she's illustrated stories for Campbell Books, Egmont, HarperCollins, Nosy Crow, Orchard Books, Orion, Oxford University Press, Penguin Random House, Stripes, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and Andersen Press. Her books have been published in many different languages, and borrowed from UK libraries more than 600,000 times! Ali lives and works in London.
Reviews
Squirrel isn’t sure what the Really Beautiful Thing is but he knows he wants it, and is prepared to sell everything he has to get it. But when the beautiful thing turns out to be useless, will his friends help him pick up the pieces? A cautionary tale about consumerism and greed from Tosdevin, who won the Crystal Kite Award for her debut picture book, The Bear and Her Book, in 2022.
The Bookseller UK, Children's January 2025 Previews
