This award-winning book by Belgian author Marine Schneider opens with a small boy who comes tumbling into a crater on a windy day, landing at the feet of an old giant named Laki. Expecting the boy to be blown away by the next gust, Laki instead finds himself sharing his home with the tiny orange ball of chaos, upsetting his routine and challenging the calm of his orderly life. 

But the boy leaves precious gifts in his messy wake – flowers, rocks, and a hunger for life – and soon the giant learns to make room for his new young friend. Laki himself offers his own gifts, telling stories and giving the boy a new, if not his very first, name: Hekla. The two live in a harmony of contrasts until Hekla wanders off in defiance of Laki’s rules, and both discover what it means to learn from one another in order to move on. 

Inspired by two Icelandic volcanoes – one old and inactive, the other young and erupting – Hekla & Laki tells a tale of the beauty and brutality of life, providing young readers with a comforting and vividly engaging story that looks at life and death through the eyes of friendship, acceptance, and ultimately hope. Schneider’s sombre illustrations of Laki’s life are superimposed with pops of Hekla’s orange vibrancy, extending the story’s poetry and powerful symbolism across every page.mRb