I’m so thrilled to announce that the German edition of “Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse,” has won the Huckepack Prize!
From the award announcement: “HUCKEPACK (which means piggyback) focuses on picture books that build a special bridge from the grown-up reader to the child being read to, “piggyback” here standing as a symbol for the reading situation: Grown-ups carrying their children piggyback give them stability and warmth and enable the children to look farther. The very same thing can happen if a child is being read to: They feel the warmth, the stability and they have the feeling that they can broaden their view.
Our jury tries to find those wonderful and far too rare books in which children are treated on an eye-to-eye-level with the grown-up, stories that show them that they can feel respected, treasured and welcome in our society. Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse is a story just like that! We believe that it helps children to build empathy and we love the way Chloe’s mom helps her daughter to discover that on her own. Instead of just teaching her, she listens to her daughter and then very discretely gives her the possibility to find out for herself why Adrian keeps on talking about his horse. So, in a very light manner Chloe is a wonderful role model for children confronted with her story – and the book is a great occasion for grown-ups and children to talk things through.”
Many thanks to the jury, and to the translator, Uwe-Michael Gutzschhahn (who, by the way, was awarded the German Youth-Literature Award in 2018 for his complete works as a translator) and the whole team at our German publisher, CBJ & CBT Verlage!