All Better!

Inese Zandere has been writing since 1990 and is one of the foremost poets for children in Latvia with fice poetry collections to her name. She is also one of Latvian’s best-loved authors of novels and fiction, with over twenty novels published to date. Inese Zandere is also the chief editor and publisher at the Riga children’s publishing house, Liels un mazs.Catherine Ann Cullen is a poet for both adults and children with two picturebooks and two collections of poetry previously published. She is the winner of multiple awards for poetry, including the Frances Ledwidge Award, and works in schools and libraries all over the country to promote and teach creative writing to young people.Pētersons’ first illustrated book was published in 2007, and since then he has established himself as one of the most productive contemporary illustrators in Latvia with over 20 children’s books under his belt. Pētersons style pays great attention to character detail, with authentic emotion captured through expressive faces and strong palettes. Pētersons uses both traditional and digital media.

Winter colds don’t stand a chance against Inese Zandere’s delightful poems in All Better, a joyful collection which has been reimagined for this English translation by Catherine Anne Cullen. Zandere turns germs into Jellylegs, temperatures into cheeky red imps and all the tools a doctor pokes and prods you with into instruments that are far more interesting than scary. Who could resist the X-ray specs of Ultan Ulrich, the “Secret Agent Ultrasound” who “went to a special school for spies – all that stuff beneath your skin [he] can visualise”, or Eliza Analyser with her “magic goggle eyes, The doctors collect samples for her to analyse”? Zandere’s rich reframing of illness, from the common cold to more serious, hospital-worthy woes, should force a smile from the most miserable patient, while Reinis Petersons’s illustrations will also gladden the heart.