January 2016 Book of the Month The adventures of giraffes Blue and Bertie make a comforting, humourous story that explores themes of friendship, independence and embracing the unexpected. Bertie is content to spend his days with his herd, crunching leaves, sipping water, then snoring en masse, until the day he oversleeps and wakes up alone. Lost, he’s frightened until he meets Blue who reassures him, and shows him new parts of the jungle before taking him home. Bertie invites his new friend to join the herd, but Blue is worried the other giraffes won’t like him. In fact, he fits in perfectly and they live together brightly and happily ever after! Blue’s blueness is cute and funny, but also provides a vivid message that different is good. ~ Andrea Reece
Bertie the giraffe's life runs over very straight lines. He always has the same breakfast. He always takes the same stroll. He always takes his nap under the same tree. But then, one day, Bertie oversleeps and is left behind by the rest of his herd, and his life begins to take some very unexpected turns...
Kristyna Litten studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and graduated in 2010. She learnt to design and create for a wide range of subject matter, often enjoying collaborations with graphic designers, costume designers and writers. She now lives in a beautiful village in Yorkshire where she is heavily reliant on the good old pencil and a great big cup of tea to keep her going, whilst habitually singing, whistling or twiddling her hair.
Her first picture books, Flint's Odd Socks followed by Chickens Can't See In The Dark, were higly commended for the Macmillan Prize two years running. She prefers to draw quickly with crayon to give an energetic line quality to her illustration, often adding colour or other hand-produced textures digitally. Her sophisticated colour palette, interest in patternr and hand drawn typography give Kristyna's work originality and strong identity.
