The Forest
by Riccardo Bozzi
illustrations by Valerio Vidali and Violeta Lopiz

What is life? This book portrays life as a vast and ancient forest—a metaphor, but a story too. Through the captivating text and illustrations, readers embark on a journey through the forest, meeting other explorers along the way, and learn that life, despite its hard realities, ends up renewing itself. A lyrical book about the adventure of life, The Forest is also a magnificent visual work, both painterly and a technical feat of paper engineering. Here, sensory experience and the textures of the material world are rendered through die-cuts, embossing, cutouts, and two gatefolds. A beautifully considered work.

"A gorgeous, singular, unimprovable book... Somehow ‘The Forest’ is a work of art that escapes feeling like an ‘art object’ ― it succeeds in being for children. "
Rivka Galchen, The New York Times Book Review

”Like a fairy-tale walk in the woods, “The Forest” is a thrilling visual excursion into uncharted territory featuring elaborate die-cuts, gatefolds and embossed images created by two artists from Italy and Spain.”
Leonard Marcus, The New York TimesThe 2018 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books

"The Forest is one of the richest, most surprising picture books I’ve ever read. A true work of art in every sense, including as bookmaking. It’s a landmark."
Bruce Handy

”A stunning illustrated celebration of the wilderness and the human role in nature not as conqueror but as humble witness.”
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

“Less a book than a tactile expedition into the existential wilderness, the journey unfolds across time and space, in ‘an enormous, ancient forest that has not yet been fully explored.’”
Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, The Loveliest Children’s Books of 2018

"From its sumptuously colored vellum jacket to its final, mysterious blank white spread, this uncommonly beautiful volume invites readers to marvel over both its daring design and enigmatic messages.[…] The sheer marvel of the design, together with the inclusive, open-ended mystery of what lies beyond the forest, makes this a wondrous piece of bookmaking for all ages. Much like a poem, it will evoke new emotions and layers of meaning with repeated readings."
*Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"At first, it seems like the prose is merely describing a walk through a forest, but taken together, the words become deeply poignant. Bozzi meaningfully gestures towards love, hate, nostalgia, language, wisdom, death, and rebirth, usually indirectly. It’s a beautiful object, with a stunning, highly tactile layout, [...] those who connect with its enigmatic beauty will be transfixed."
Booklist

"A fascinating journey inside the circle of life"
Bureau and Family

"The Forest refuses to be put into a category, and that’s what we absolutely love about it. Bozzi, Lopiz, and Vidali do such a phenomenal job at making every single aspect of this book special. Ending in full circle, the book inspires to not take life for granted and to appreciate even the small things."
Illustoria

"As a book / object / artwork, this is just NUTS. And beautiful."
Simon Armstrong, Book Buyer at Tate Modern

"È tutto questo La Foresta: un capolavoro di creatività e cartotecnica, poesia e immaginazione. Sì, perché il racconto di Riccardo Bozzi è un’esplorazione solitaria di una foresta grande quanto l’esistenza, un percorso metaforico in cui ci stanno le dimensioni più belle del crescere: il mettersi in gioco, il guardare oltre, lo spaventarsi, l’amarsi… [...] E per i giovani lettori questa foresta diventa un luogo in cui potersi sperimentare, in cui cercare le proprie risposte. Di foglio in foglio, di foglia in foglia."
Style Piccoli - Corriere della Sera

"Un libro que hay que leer para descubrir su final, y releer para redes-cubrir los misterios de su interior. El bosque narra la vida como solo se puede narrar. Con la simpleza de las cosas puras. Con la liviandad de las cosas importantes."
Diario La Central 21

Awards:

★ New York Times - Selected among the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2018
★ Bologna Children's Book Fair – Selected in the 2015 Illustrator’s Exhibition
★ Prix Sorcières 2019 - Shortlisted among the Best Fiction Books of 2018