WINNER of the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year 2023
WINNER of the Australian Book Design Awards Best Designed Children's Picture Book 2023
SHORTLISTED for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Children's Literature 2023
SELECTED for The Braw Amazing Bookshelf at the BolognaRagazzi Awards 2024
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It goes without saying that all children believe their parents to be strange.
Mine were unusual for a different reason...

One boy's parents travel from far-off lands to improve their son's life. But what happens next is unexpected. What does it mean when your parents are different? What shape does love take? And what happens when your parents sacrifice a part of themselves for you?

In this heartbreaking and heart-warming story, CBCA award-winner Zeno Sworder reflects on his own migrant parents' sacrifices to create a universal story about what it means to give to those you love. Drawing from the sacrifices his Chinese mother made to raise her young family in a small country town, Sworder's drawings are full of beautiful detail and fairytale settings that explore his own journey from child to parent.

With humour and pathos, Sworder reflects on the strange nature of giving and receiving love and celebrates those parents who embrace a hard life for themselves in the hope of a better life from their children. Full of depth and generosity as well as insight and candour, Sworder brings this gorgeous fable to life.