The Prickly Softness of Daddy’s Cheek

In this book at once tender and witty, the authors beautifully present, within the grasp of children, what we call oxymorons: the unexpected meeting of two notions which are usually opposed. The young reader is invited to remember – and smile at – sensations and impressions which are in principle impossible to associate and yet true and accurate, such as “the uncomfortable happiness of wearing new shoes”, “the ever-present absence of a friend you miss”, “the infinite ending of a book you can read over and over” or… “the prickly softness” evoked in the title. The wonderful complicity between author and illustrator gives form to very endearing pages.

Alice Brière-Haquet, after having been a highschool literature teacher, devoted herself completely to children’s books, of which she has published more than fifty titles. She has notably been published by Actes Sud, Flammarion, Me-Mo, Auzou… With Møtus, she has published the picture book Red, which received attention and was then taken up for a school edition by Hachette and published in Basque by Editions Ikas.

Sylvie Serprix started by creating documentary drawings with Gallimard before devoting herself entirely to illustration in 2010. She collaborates regularly with Le Monde, Libération, the JDD… In publishing, so far she has illustrated around fifteen picture books for children, including Stop Reading! , which has sold 10 000 copies. She has been the laureate of numerous prizes, translated into Chinese, Korean and Russian and her first picture book received the White Ravens mention in Bologna in 2012. We love her illustrations, so rich in humour and inventiveness.

The author lives near Caen. The illustrator lives in Paris.