The Adventures of Fifi and Noni

Have you ever wanted to live inside of a snow globe? I have.

And why am I talking about snow globes at the end of summer?

Because I just received a copy of ‘The Adventures of Fifi and Noni’ by Kimberly Jacobs Muller and Chad Attie, and this isn’t just a book about travelling to a magical land through a snow globe.

Have you ever felt odd or different?

Have you ever been teased?

Has your child?

Because that’s what this book is really about ~ how a little girl named Fifi learns to embrace her individuality after enduring ridicule. In this case, about her flaming red hair.

After journeying to Aipotu (utopia spelled backwards!), Fifi and her tagalong little brother Noni, discover a kindly guide called Llamaroo.

Llamaroo is fun, wise and likes to speak French. Llamaroo wants Fifi to look on the bright side of life and celebrate that which makes her stand out from others.

This is one of life’s most difficult lessons, I find. Easy to say, hard to really embody within. And it’s one I want Julia to hear from a variety of sources, as she embarks upon her elementary school years.

“We are a world of different. Look at me, Fifi. We are all different. We are all free to be.”

Julia has reached the age where she is going to experience life events without me. Which is such an odd feeling. For the most part up until now, I have been there to watch, to see what she has experienced right as she was experiencing it. That will happen less and less as she starts to enter the world without me constantly at her side.

It scares the pants off of me.

Which is why I want her to love herself, to be proud of who she is, of how she thinks and how she looks and what she’s interested in doing. I want her to be a kind friend and respectful of people who are unlike her.

These ideas are all at play in the story. The thematic concepts are laid out in a magical and uplifting way that kids 5 and up can grasp.

I found this book to be completely unlike anything I’ve seen lately. Kimberly Muller is clearly on a huge roll! Do you recall the post I did on her earlier book, ‘Last Night I Swam With a Mermaid’? Her stories are gusts of fresh air and I feel like I’m seeing something new with her books. Muller’s stories make me think and see the world in a different way. They’re trippy and unusual in the best possible sense.

(And I haven’t been so excited about the art in a book since I discovered Nicoletta Ceccoli. I am now in total awe of Chad Attie! You have to check out his site. Extreme beauty. Apparently he can do anything, from mixed media collages to abstract paintings to intricate detail work. He also has an amazing Pinterest page.)

What a magical, exquisite story. This is a book I would give as a gift, it’s that special.

(I received a copy of this book for review purposes, but the opinions expressed are my own. I was knocked out by the level of talent and skill that went into it and I’m happy happy to do what I can to help promote this lovely story!)