The Red Thread

by Tord Nygren

A little boy follows a red thread and discovers strange and exotic worlds, including a forest full of trolls, a magical garden, a circus, and the elaborate funeral of a honey bee. Interwoven with the drawings are characters from famous works of art and literature.

Genres: Picture Books

28 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bizarre and disturbing--is there anyone who can decipher this?

[Christie Kaaland · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Nygren's internationally acclaimed wordless picture book, readers follow a red thread across the globe. On the title page, a young girl stands ankle-deep on the shore observing a toy sailboat, caught up by the red thread dragging along the beach. Here, the red thread juxtaposes angularly against the straight line of the horizon at sea. Beginning with the end papers (though no origin of the red thread is shown), on each double-page spread, discover art and literary references throughout the adventure.

This is definitely an adult "find the reference" book, beginning with the first page upon which this reader recognized (but couldn't catch in the webs of my memories) multiple literary characters, both creators and characters. Definitely Dorothy's scarecrow. Picasso's "Child with a Dove"....Wait! I think I recognize....is that Hieronymus Bosch? Or a character from his unusual paintings.

What a fun book to spend a day with which to research literature and art.

[اليازية خليفة · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب صامت.. يربط الرسام فيه ذاكرته البصرية بالشخصيات التي مرّت به عن طريق قصص الأطفال ورسومات الفنانين العالميين كڤان جوخ وليوناردو دافنشي، المشكلة تكمن في كون معظم القصص المرسومة أو التي احتوى الكتاب إشارات حولها تعود للأدب الاسكندناڤي، الذي نجهل أغلبه ما خلا بعض الشخصيات الآي وصلت للعالمية.
هذا الكتاب ينبش الذاكرة من دون وجود تصور بصري لقصة بعينها.
الجدير بالذكر أن هذا ما عثرت عليه من أوائل الكتب الصامتة التي نشرت عالميًا عام ١٩٨٧ وهو سويدي.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly a wordless book.

The illustrations are nice and
attractive and appropriate.

There are some interesting details
in some of the illustrations.

Some adults would be interested
in the artistry of this book.

I thought this picture book was good not
absolutely great.

Children in general would probably
enjoy it.