FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith

Title: FArTHER

Author: Grahame Baker-Smith

Publisher: Templar Publishing

ISBN: 9781878771260

Rating 5/5 with merits

I love all the animation in this book, and the cover sums it up really nicely.  A father can be seen sitting with his son standing on his knee – I love the steampunk type wings, and the bright read poppies, which also appear in the book.

FArTHER is a fabulously detailed book.  The font used throughout the book is slightly unusual, and also appears in capitals throughout.  The animation on each page tells a good part of the story – when reading this our son loves looking at the characters and scenes; it really does a superb job of breathing life into the story.  I adore all the steampunk elements to this, from the inventions, to the drawings the father made, as well as all the colours used.

The story itself is one of love, loss and rebirth – the circle of life along with sadness, happiness and dreaming.  A father spends a lot of his time dreaming of new things and making new inventions.  Ultimately he and his son spend some wonderful & tender times together…the call of war means the loss of his father and a dream which continues into fruition for the grown up son, who goes on to have a family of his own with dreams and hopes for his own child.

This is a stunning book which we’ve read time and time again.  I’ve given it 5/5 with merits as in our family’s eyes it is up on the ‘super reads’ shelf along with The Hungry Caterpillar which is a must have!!   FArTHER stands out amongst the crowd, and it comes as no surprise that it won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal in 2011.  Very well deserved!

To see a gallery of Grahame Smith-Baker's work go here

Book synopsis:
When a father who dreams of flying goes off to war and does not return, his son decides to make the dream come true. Grahame Baker-Smith’s moving story, with stunning illustrations, shows how, with love and a bit of ambition, you can reach seemingly impossible goals.

Source - A copy was received in return for an honest review.