One and Everything

From Sam Winston, the co-creator of the Bologna Ragazzi award-winning A Child of Books, comes a thought-provoking celebration of the power of stories and written languages, and the imperative to preserve them.

Once there were many stories in the world. Some had beautiful sunsets, some lived at the bottom of the sea, and some were simply about dogs. Until one story decided that it was going to be the most important story ever. It called itself the One and started to consume every other story in existence. Soon it seemed that the One was all that was left ... or was it?

Inspired by the Endangered Alphabets project, aimed at preserving cultures by sharing their unique scripts, author-illustrator Sam Winston uses writing systems such as cuneiform, Canadian aboriginal, Egyptian hieroglyphs and ogham to illustrate this book in his signature typography-based style, using symbols and letters that have relayed the world’s stories over the centuries.

Highly recommended. Ostensibly a plea for the creation of stories, this thoughtful yet playful picture book will encourage many hours of research and inquiry into the variety of written communication over millennia… This majestic plea for the power of language and story will provoke discussion amongst the readers, initiate further research and guarantee close inspection of the detail of the illustrations. Read Plus
This is a book about: stories and storytelling, words and language, culture, oral traditions, and expression. At its heart is language and written scripts. Kids Book Review
This is a remarkable book that celebrates story, language, their importance and the necessity of trying to preserve them. It is informative without being didactic, beautifully designed and appeals to a wide age range in different ways. Reading Time
In a whimsical and simple symbolic way, Sam Winston celebrates the diversity of languages across the world. .. With an estimated more than seven thousand languages in the world, spoken by around eight billion people, One & Everything is a paean to all those languages, offering much to ponder for the older reader -- Kevin Steinberger Magpies Magazine

Sam Winston is a fine artist who exhibits internationally and whose books can be found in many special collections worldwide, including New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Research Institute, the Tate Gallery London, the Bodleian Library Oxford and the V&A Museum. His work is also collected by the Library of Congress and commissioned by The New York Times. A Child of Books, Sam's picture book debut and co-created with Oliver Jeffers, won the Bologna Ragazzi Award and was a New York Times bestseller. Sam lives and works in London.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.