US book industry bible Publisher’s Weekly has got hold of a copy of our title In Just One Second, which will be released shortly in the US market.

This offbeat exploration of time describes a string of incidents that happen in a single second “somewhere in the south of the city, at 27 minutes and 32 seconds past seven o’clock.” In this British [sic] import, Freytes offers unadorned text that makes a kind of surreal poem, and Morais’s blocky images, all in autumnal oranges and yellows, combine toylike charm and postmodern irony. In one spread, a cockroach gazes at the hem of a woman’s skirt as a shoe appears above him: “At exactly the same moment, a cockroach looked at the woman dressed in yellow, unaware of approaching danger.” The man whose foot threatens the cockroach is seen by a baby in a perambulator, who is watched by a dog, who in turn is being watched by a cat in a window. The final spread shows all of the characters united in that single moment: “It all happened in just one second.” It’s a novel portrait of the mysteriously intertwined lives of city dwellers, and an almost philosophical reflection on the nature of time. Ages 4–7.

Apart from not knowing we’re Australian, the reviewer gets it! It’s our first book from South America and the artwork and concept are both captivating.

You can find out more about the book and its creators, and download free teacher’s notes and other material here.