Kate Hosford & Gabi Swiatkowska

Patchwork Memories

When I looked up, I shivered. How many stars were in the sky? A million? A billion? Maybe the number was as big as infinity. I started to feel very, very small. How could I even think about something as big as infinity?

Uma can’t help feeling small when she peers up at the night sky. She begins to wonder about infinity. Is infinity a number that grows forever? Is it an endless racetrack? Could infinity be in an ice cream cone? Uma soon finds that the ways to think about this big idea may just be . . . infinite.

Carolrhoda Books

Picture Book

Age 5+
32 pp
hc | 235 x 280 mm
Publication: August 2012


Author: Kate Hosford
Illustrator: Gabi Swiatkowska

Rights sold: Italian, Korean
All other rights available
, excl. Chinese (simpl. & compl.), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish

Awards

“A stellar artistic vision of the infinite power of intergenerational love.” —starred, Kirkus Review 

“Even for adults, this is an enormously complex idea—scientifically, mathematically, philosophically—but Hosford smoothly distills it to a manageable serving that will both engage and challenge kids. Swiatkowska’s art, too, is remarkable at this elucidation, illustrating the text literally but with appropriately disorienting and surreal details that combine to whimsical, visually stunning effect.” – The Horn Book Magazine

“Swiatkowska’s imaginative artwork combines the free-wheeling, slightly eerie absurdity of Monty Python animations, the formality of nineteenth-century decorative patterning, and the playful nerdiness of Leonardo da Vinci-styled inventions. For math and language arts teachers in search of circular common ground, ∞ marks the spot.” – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This unusual, philosophical picture book makes this seemingly difficult concept approachable and interesting….This quiet jewel is sure to spark contemplation and conversation among readers.” – School Library Journal

“Hosford’s (Big Bouffant) story is as much a look into the interior life of a sensitive girl as it is a meditation on a mathematical concept—a task for which Swiatkowska’s (This Baby) idiosyncratic portraits are perfectly suited.” – Publishers Weekly

“Swiatkowska’s Victorian-style drawings are vaguely reminiscent of Edward Gorey, and Hosford effectively reflects the ways in which young children might grapple with, and come to some understanding of, such an impenetrable notion.” – The New York Times Book Review

By the same author and illustrator