Before I Grew Up

A story of childhood dreams and adventures, and of the parental love that in seeing you, nourishes you to become yourself.★ A Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Loveliest Children’s Book of 2021 ★Using notebooks, paintings, and sketches, author John Miller (Winston and George) weaves a lyrical story about the childhood of an Italian artist named Giuliano Cucco. Through luminescent, emotionally rich images, Miller tells the story of a colorful family and an imaginative boy, from a time when children had the freedom to roam and to dream. This innovative picture book, sprung from images into words, is an ode to childhood and a celebration of the human spirit.It's also a celebration of the deep inner solitude that we possess as children, wherein we flourish. Here, our child protagonist is ripening on his own, and needs only three words from his father to help him confirm who he believes himself to be.

John Miller, a nature writer, is the author of two books published by Enchanted Lion, Winston and George and Red Spider Hero. These children's books were illustrated by Giuliano Cucco, a close friend he met while living in Rome. News of Giuliano's death prompted him to link together a number of his friend's many paintings into a story that carries the reader deep into Cucco's rich world of childhood imagination.Giuliano Cucco was an Italian artist and illustrator. He and his wife were killed by a motor scooter driver in a pedestrian crossing in Rome in 2006. He is survived by a son and two grandchildren.