The City

Author(s): Armin Greder

Picture Books | English

Following on from The Island, Armin Greder offers a contemporary mother-and-son fable that is powerful and compelling.   Some time ago, in a big city in a distant country where winter would sometimes last three years, there lived a woman. She had a child. A son. And because she loved him very much she promised herself that he should be spared the terrible things that happen in life, and with him in her arms she left her house and the city and in a place where there were no roads and no bridges she built him a house and in it she cared for him and was happy. But one moonless night she died. A fable for children and for mothers, this courageous tale explores the effort and the suffering it takes to grow—and above all else, to let grow.


Product Information

Commended for Children's Book Council of Australia Awards: Picture Book of the Year 2011.

A remarkable book, full of silence and space, that forces its readers to reflect on the notions of childhood, parental responsibility, death, human conditioning and, ultimately, whether love can be enough. Ibby Link

Armin Greder was born in Switzerland. In 1971 he migrated to Australia where he worked as a graphic designer and later taught design and illustration at a tertiary art institution. Picture books illustrated by him include The Great Bear, An Ordinary Day and I Am Thomas as well as The Island and The City, in which he is also the author. His work, in which charcoal is prominent, reflects his European background. He is the recipient of a number of international recognitions such as the Bologna Ragazzi Award and he has been nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.

General Fields

  • : 9781742371429
  • : Allen & Unwin
  • : Allen & Unwin Children's Books
  • : 0.45
  • : January 2010
  • : 314mm X 216mm
  • : Australia
  • : September 2023
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Armin Greder
  • : Hardback
  • : 1
  • : en
  • : A823
  • : 32
  • : chiefly col. Illustrations