Coming home from her independent city life, a young woman rediscovers childlike wonder and comfort at her grandmother’s house.

A young woman gets on the bus and rides out of the big city. She arrives in the countryside, where she is as big as a giant, looming over a tiny house, a garden and her tiny grandmother. The cabbages and the apple trees are far below. Her grandmother smiles up at her in her yellow hat. The young woman bends down to give her little grandmother a big kiss, and then she smells her grandmother’s cooking. She has returned home. When they sit down at the table, the young woman has shrunk to a child-like size, and the two share a meal together in the garden.

In this gentle, wordless story Natalia Chernysheva beautifully captures the feelings of coming home to comfort and memories and of returning to our childlike selves.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

NATALIA CHERNYSHEVA is a director, animator and artist. She is the director of four award-winning films: The Gossamer (2016), Deux Amis (2014), Le Retour (2013) and Snowflake (2012). Natalie studied graphics and animation at Ural State Academy of Architecture and Art, and she has worked as an animator, artist and designer on animated films, including That Is the Wedding (2011) and Letter (2011). She studied at La Poudrière film school in Paris.

Natalia Chernysheva's profile page

• Commended, USBBY Outstanding International Book

As comforting as a home-cooked meal.

Kirkus Reviews

Readers of all ages will enjoy working together to craft a story and dialogue to accompany the emotional imagery of this book.

School Library Journal