The Tear Thief - Hardcover

Carol Ann Duffy is an acclaimed poet and playwright who has also written many picture books. Her collection of poetry Rapture was the winner of the 2006 T. S. Eliot Prize. Carol Ann is the current Poet Laureate and lives in Manchester with her daughter, Ella. She has also written The Gift for Barefoot Books. Nicoletta Ceccoli has been featured several times at the Bologna Children's Book Festival, and won the prestigious Andersen prize for the best Italian children's book illustrator in 2001 and 2006. She has also illustrated the popular Barefoot titles The Faery's Gift and The Princess and the White Bear King. Juliet Stevenson is a stage and screen actress with many credits to her name, including Truly, Madly, Deeply, Emma, and Mona Lisa Smile. She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role in Death and the Maiden. Juliet has narrated other stories for Barefoot Books including The Real Princess and The Barefoot Book of Dance Stories.

She has short, spiky white hair and big, gray eyes; she wears a handkerchief dress and silk slippers; and
every evening she steals tears from children and collects them in a silvery sack: she s the Tear Thief. But
she s a good thief because her special magic whisks away the reason a child cries. Different kinds of
tears are different colors, and the most valuable tears are those of pure sadness. When the Tear
Thief comes upon a little girl crying because she has lost her dog, she befriends the girl and dries her
tears. As the story progresses, young listeners may begin to wonder why the Tear Thief collects tears and
what she does with them, and in a soothing resolution, they find out. The mystical acrylic
illustrations, colored mostly in nighttime shades of blue, gray, and purple, are even more haunting and
ethereal than the somewhat lengthy story. Reserve this for children who can appreciate quiet, hearttugging
fantasy with a mystical aura.

- Julie Cummins --Booklist, November 15, 2007