A Bottle of Happiness is a beautifully illustrated book.  Ehsan Abdollahi has a strong and distinctive style using the most vivid colours and characters on every page.  This book is so visually beautiful I feel it is an object each of us should have on a coffee table, or adorning a shelf.

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However, the beauty of this picture book extends and connects fully into the words and story too – it is in the style of a traditional fable created by Pippa Goodhart.

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There are two villages separated by a huge mountain, the people on one side have little, but share everything they have – including stories – with much love and laughter.  On the other side the people are rich and work at ‘getting richer.’  One day a boy called Pim travels from the poor village to the rich village but has no money to buy anything. Instead, he promises to bring the stallholder some happiness in exchange for the beautiful fruit he sells.  When Pim returns he is laughed at for the ‘empty’ bottle he presents to the rich villagers.  Pim, however, is not deterred and he shows the rich villagers a new way of seeing things by turning their ridicule into something magical.

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Tiny Owl Publishing is part of an intercultural project where a British author collaborates with an Iranian illustrator – or vice versa.

The writer and illustrator individually call upon their own cultures and knowledge to create the story.

This is the first title in the project, and judging by the high standard, we have much to look forward to.

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Anja Stobbart