ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Aug 2026
Publisher: Transit Books
ISBN: 9798893380897
“The freewheeling unpredictability of the narrative lends it both an air of mystery and a feeling that everything is all in good fun. Pages are suffused in the bright yellow of the fountain’s gifts, alongside eye-popping pinks, greens, blues, oranges, and browns. While the mystery itself is never completely solved, multiple readings yield various interpretations, particularly if children inspect hidden details on many of its pages, like the expressions on the fountain’s statues. Enigmatic yet utterly enticing—youngsters will have a ball.” KIRKUS
“”I took one look at this highly detailed art, and my first thought was: Adventure Time. After all, this is the kind of book where the citizens can be everything from badgers in pants to walking clouds to guys with butterfly wings. It’s also the kind of book that rewards multiple re-readings. It doesn’t solve its own mystery, but it gives something different to think about to readers of different ages.” Betsy Bird, School Library Journal
“A visually inviting fable of magic-tinged abundance(…) Satisfaying echoes of ‘the Magic Porridge Pot’, Tove Jansson’s ‘Finn Family Moomintroll’, and Tomi Ungere’s ‘The Hat”; and drooll text and linework that will fully immerse readers” –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review.
Highly recommended: this background page:
https://lisaloffredo.substack.com/p/la-fontaine-where-do-ideas-for-books
where we are told that the idea for the book began as a list of words in a notebook:
A fountain begins to offer up unexplained gifts to a town’s residents — a garden gnome, roller skates, a mountain of bananas — until they find the gift of each other’s company.
One Tuesday morning, a yellow hat bobs to the surface of the town fountain. The next day, there’s a yellow drum. Then a yellow rocking horse, roller skates, cowboy boots, a garden gnome, things with moustaches…
By evening, the whole town is buzzing about the fountain’s incredible gifts. Notable experts from far and wide come to investigate. The mayor designates visiting days and installs a traffic light. But no one ever figures out the fountain’s secret. Then, one day, the fountain disappears as mysteriously as it arrived. But its magic remains…
Lisa Loffredo is a self-taught Italian illustrator and picture book author based in Amsterdam. She loves colours, humorous characters and playful illustrations. Lisa was selected as winner of the 2025 Illustrators’ Exhibition in Bologna.
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