Josh / Uma / Lilly K (series)

Ellen Karlsson & Monika Forsberg

This series is about the children at the daycare The Sea. It is for age 4-6 and includes as much illustration as a picture book, but with more text and divided into chapters for every day of the week. Welcome to a week in the life of a preschooler!

Josh, 5 years
Now you’re about to hear about Josh and what he does every day. Not all days, but for one week at least. Much can happen in a week. Josh moves from his yellow room at mom’s house to his green room at dad’s, for instance. He finishes a space drawing (with all the planets), he makes pearl necklaces at preschool with his best friend Uma, he fights and makes up with his favorite teacher, makes tomato soup although he hates it, he sees smoke coming from the building next door, he hurts himself and gets a band-aid and rests at home for a day. And when things get tough, it helps sleeping close to dad.

The book about Josh is the first part about the children at the preschool The Sea. In the group Seagull there are ten other children besides Josh and Uma, and the two teachers Izla and Freddie.

Uma, 5 1/2 years
Join Uma on a regular week at preschool. In her group there are twelve children, one of them is Josh whom she’s known all her life and she feels most at home with. Bu there’s also Lilly K, who does all sorts of new things! Like wander off without telling anyone to go jump trampoline in someone’s backyard. At home, Uma has her mom, who isn’t just her mom but also Uma’s best friend. They can talk about everything. Which is good, becasue sometimes you happen to do something you regret, something you’re not allowed to… Uma thinks a lot about how different her friends are, and how you know who you really are.

Lilly K, soon 6 years
Meet Lilly K!
In the group Seagull there are twelve children and one of them is Lilly K. She is called that because there is another Lilly in the group as well. Lilly K is the oldest in the entire daycare and she also has big emotions, lots of good ideas, and isn’t afraid of anything. Uma is also in the group and Lilly K thinks she is the loveliest person she’s ever met. There’s only two problems: Uma is friends with Jojje, and he’s the most boring person Lilly K knows. And Uma is afraid of animals. Lilly K loves animals, she actually collects animals, all animals: argentines, homeless cats, and sad dogs outside the grocery store. Adults don’t always get Lilly K and that’s why it’s good that grandpa and the animals are there.

 

Ellen Karlsson is a Swedish author and publisher. She debuted in 2013 with Snöret, fågeln och jag,
for which she was awarded the August Prize. Monika Forsberg is a Swedish illustrator and designer. She moved to London to study animation at the Royal College of Art in 1995 and she still lives there today. She has worked for clients like eeBoo, Anthropologie, Unicef, RedValentino, NY Review and Quarto Publishing. Her images are a mix of hand-painted images and digital collage.