MY FRIEND EARTH

My Friend Earth, written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Francesca Sanna, is truly spectacular in every sense of the word.

A love letter to Mother Earth, this book follows along as she wakes up from her winter nap and tends to all of her creations. She observes a mole tunneling underground, she hears the caws of crows, and she tends to the fields and rivers. She guards the oceans and blows autumn winds, and when the cold of winter finally comes again she sprinkles the land with snow and settles in to do it all again the next year.

The design care given to this book is off the charts. The cover of the book is embossed with shiny streaks representing the curves of Mother Earth's hair, and the paper is soft and yellowed to match the earth tones in the illustrations. The spreads all feature laser cut pages that effortlessly blend into their respective illustrations and offer peaks at the textures and patterns that lie ahead. The images were created with pencil, ink, and digital painting, and within the earth tones, there is a heavy emphasis on greens, teals, and oranges. 

My Friend Earth publishes from Chronicle Books on February 25, 2020. You can also read an interview I did a few years ago with illustrator Francesca Sanna about her illustration process here. 

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