Author(s): Johanna Schaible

Picture | History & Politics | Sophisticated Picture | Thinking & Feeling

Take a journey from the distant past into a future to be imagined with this gorgeous debut picture book whose gradated pages reflect the passage of time.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, land took shape. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs lived on Earth. Thousands of years ago, people built towering pyramids. Ten years ago, the landscape looked different. A month ago, it was still summer. A minute ago, the light was turned off. Now! Make a wish! What will you be doing in a week? How will you celebrate your birthday next year? What will you discover when you are older? What will hold you in awe forever?

Moving inexorably from an age primeval into a future filled with questions, Johanna Schaible brings her beautiful collage artwork to an exploration of time that melds a conceptual vision with a physical one.

With each page turn, the pages gradually become smaller—showing more and more borders from the past—until they reach the present moment, then grow larger again as time expands into a future full of possibilities.

Review: Johanna Schaible's 'Once Upon a Time There Was and Will Be So Much More' is a marvel to hold and to behold. I've never seen a book quite like it... It's a wonderful feat of bookmaking. No mere gimmick, the changing dimensions help situate the reader in the present and enhance the book's emotional impact. And the questions give kids plenty to think about. Like the best books, this one will live in the reader's mind for a long time after its cover closes.
-The New York Times Book Review

This Swedish import asks children to ponder time on a mammoth and ever shifting scale. . . . Ambitious and thought-provoking.
-Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography: Johanna Schaible is a collage artist and illustrator based in Switzerland. Once Upon a Time There Was and Will Be So Much More, her debut picture book, was discovered as part of the Unpublished Picturebook Showcase.