1 5

Elsewhere Editions

Hiznobyuti (Hardcover)

Hiznobyuti (Hardcover)

by Claude Ponti, illustrated by Claude Ponti, translated from the French by Alyson Waters

$18.00
$18.00
Available as E-Book Children's Literature French Literature
Format
This title can be purchased from your favorite e-book retailer,
including  many independent booksellers.

Buy on Amazon   Buy on iBooks   Buy on Barnes&Noble

When he is born, Hiznobyuti is not exactly handsome. In fact, his parents and siblings say, "He's no beauty!" They say it so often, Hiznobyuti assumes it is his name. Wherever he goes, only embarrassment and shame await him. Hiznobyuti hides himself away, working on his inventions, until one day he receives a message from the stars. After a fight with his family, Hiznobyuti decides to run away. On a beautiful adventure by himself, he learns the secrets of the universe: how to communicate with trees and birds, how to wake up the sun, and how to see himself for who he truly is - a hero! When he returns from his journey, Hiznobyuti family rejoices and apologizes for not understanding how beautiful and important he was to them all along.

Additional Book Information

Series: Elsewhere Editions
ISBN: 9780914671909
Pages: 35
Publication Date:

Praise

An ugly monster sets out on a wonderfully strange journey of self-discovery... Ponti's illustrations—equally rich in warm feeling and surreal, precisely drawn figures and details—give the tale wings... He adventures, slaying a much-larger monster with one colossal sneeze, temporarily transforming himself into a tree, "communophoning" with the stars, and saving a dead planet by waking its sun (and a princess on a nearby satellite), among other heroic feats... Itzabyuti thruenthru.
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

On a beautiful adventure by himself, he learns the secrets of the universe: how to communicate with trees and birds, how to wake up the sun, and how to see himself for who he truly is – a hero! When he returns from his journey, Hiznobyuti's family rejoices and apologizes for not understanding how beautiful and important he was to them all along.
—The Children's Book Review

Hiznobyuti is a truly fantastic children’s book that every child should definitely check out!
––Rabbit Tears Book Blog

Hiznobyuti’s saga of discovery takes him past the challenges of a monster with hammers for hair, or the difficulty of “filling a bottomless pit with a leaky pot” for the old witch Sissyfus...Of course, when we finish, Dean says, “Read that again.” And so we do. Why not? We’re already settled into the couch. As my grandson sits beside me, I feel the echo of my son or daughter when we’d read together, and the even more distant echo of my father, who taught me, with a single book, the power of a human voice channeling the delights of a story, and the surprise of imagination that held it all together.
—Philip Graham, The Millions

View full details

  • Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a New York Review Books Gift Card.

    Gift Cards 

  • A membership for yourself or as a gift for a special reader will promise a year of good reading.

    Join NYRB Classics Book Club 

  • Is there a book that you’d like to see back in print, or that you think we should consider for one of our series? Let us know!

    Tell us about it