Captain Rosalie

Timothee de Fombelle is a much-admired French playwright, as well as the author of award-winning fiction. His first series, Toby Alone and Toby and the Secrets of the Tree, has been printed in 27 languages and has won numerous awards including France’s prestigious Prix Sorcières and the Marsh Award. Timothee's adventure series, Vango, Book One: Between Sky and Earth and Vango, Book Two: A Prince Without a Kingdom received huge critical acclaim, and book one was granted an English Pen Award for translation. Timothee's beautiful story, Captain Rosalie, was first featured in the acclaimed collection, The Great War: an Anthology of Stories Inspired by Objects from the First World War.Isabelle Arsenault is a Quebec illustrator who has won an impressive number of awards and has achieved international recognition. Her picture books include Migrant by Maxine Trottier, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book and a finalist for the Governor General's Award, and Once Upon a Northern Light by Jean E. Pendziwol. Find Isabelle online at www.isabellearsenault.com

The centenary of the First World War has brought a full postbag of titles about children and war, including Michael Morpurgo’s Our Jacko and Poppy Field and The Button War by the Newbery medal winner Avi, to name but a few. These three are excellent reads, but the greatest discovery has been a small book by Timothée de Fombelle, a French playwright and author known, but not previously by me, for his Vango adventure series and “Toby” books, who has collaborated with the talented illustrator Isabelle Arsenault… De Fombelle writes minimally for maximum effect and Arsenault’s mostly red, black and white ink and watercolours are stunning. A perfect little book about war, grief and peace that packs a mighty punch.