Yakov and the Seven Thieves

It’s not every day that the opportunity arises to collaborate with an international star, especially one as talented as Gennady Spirin. It seems all the more perplexing then that this brilliant artist’s name does not appear on the cover of this book. The Russian born Spirin’s extraordinary, anachronistic artworks flow from a northern European tradition of genre painting exemplified by Bruegel, and he is one of the truly outstanding artists working in children’s books today. In Yakov and the Seven Thieves, village cobbler Yakov and his wife Olga are in despair as their son Mikhail wastes away from a mystery illness. Finally, the father visits the wise old man of the village in a desperate attempt to save his ailing son. The old man promises to pray for the boy, but the gates of heaven turn out to be locked. As the boy nears his end the wise one comes up with an ingenious plan to invite the rogues, thieves, pickpockets and vagabonds of the village to pray for his recovery. It is their ability to pick their way through the locked gates that brings about the boy’s recovery.

The book is dedicated ‘to naughty children everywhere’, and is, it has to be said, a thoroughly uplifting read. Print and production quality do full justice to Spirin’s exquisite pictures.