Original title:
その本は
Original language:
Japanese
Publication info:
Poplar Publishing Co., Ltd.
July 2022
192 pages
Genre:
Illustrated Inspirational
Rights handled by New River:
Foreign rights outside Asia
Rights sold:
Italy (Mondadori)
The Netherlands (Scriptum)
World Spanish (Plaza & Janés/PRH Spain)
WEL (Michael Joseph/PRH UK)
That Book...
by Naoki Matayoshi and Shinsuke Yoshitake
A collaboration between an Akutagawa Prize-winner and one of Japan’s most beloved picture book authors
300,000 copies sold
This current Japanese bestseller explores the infinite magic of books with a fable-like profundity reminiscent of Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. An elderly book-loving king sends two subjects on a mission: to travel the world collecting stories about weird and wonderful books. Upon their return, they recount their stories for the king over the course of thirteen nights.
A book that makes the sound of turning pages fractionally too early, infuriating its readers; a diary shared by two children with painful secrets; a photo album left by a dying father for when his daughter gets married. From the comically irreverent to the heart-rending to the heart-warming, the charmingly illustrated stories delve into all that a book can be, forming an enchantingly imaginative compendium revealing the ways in which we interact with books, and the importance that they hold in our hearts.
About the authors
Naoki Matayoshi (1980-) is an author and comedian. His novels include debut Spark (2015), which won the Akutagawa Prize and became a bestselling phenomenon with over three million copies sold. It was subsequently adapted into a Netflix original series.
Shinsuke Yoshitake (1973-) graduated from Tsukuba University with a master’s degree in Visual Arts. He made his debut as a picture book author with Maybe It’s an Apple (2013) and has since authored several other works which have been translated into several languages and won many domestic and international awards including the Bologna Ragazzi Award Special Prize.