Snail

Isamu Noguchi is one of the most important sculptors of all time. You know his work without even knowing you know: His Akari lamps changed the way modern buildings light their space. But before he was important, he was a kid. This is his story.Noguchi was a Japanese American artist who gave the world light. The world, however, was not always so giving in return. Growing up mixed-race, born in the United States but raised in Japan, Noguchi found himself perceived as an outsider who did not belong in either country. Unable to identify fully as either Japanese or American, he conceived of himself as a snail, capable of retreating into his creative shell when the world did not embrace him. Through his art, the Snail could shape, hold, and create light—to conquer the darkness without.Poetic and searing, heart-wrenching and exquisite, Emily Hughes’s paean to creativity explores emotions ravaged by a history of Japanese incarceration, the effects of personal isolation, and the power of art to heal those wounds.

"Hughes presents an impressionistic picture-book biography...[an] emotional journey." -- The Horn Book Magazine , "[D]etailed and fascinating...The book will beguile older readers." -- School Library Journal , "The illustrations...delicately render his life. An ambitious attempt to chronicle the life of a complex artist." -- Kirkus Reviews , "Hughes pays careful attention to the surfaces of Noguchi's sculpture--the heavy grain of wood, the dark gleam of polished stone--to create a visually elegant telling." -- Publishers Weekly , "With Hughes' own skill, the complexities of Isamu's life and art are thoughtfully designed and exquisitely rendered." -- Booklist, starred review

Emily Hughes is the illustrator for the beloved Charlie and Mouse series and EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR A TREEHOUSE. She was born in Hawaii and lives and works in the United Kingdom.