Overview

Gorgeous watercolor illustrations follow [Lisa's] quest to resuscitate magic in this dreamlike tale. — Foreword Starred Review A hopeful, fanciful tale about the beauty in connection.— Booklist Foreword's Book of the Day, November 25th, 2025 Each day as she wonders through the city, Lisa notices people staring at their phones. She hears silence rather than voices, and she wishes she could do something about it. Lisa takes a bus to the countryside where there are millions of shining stars—where the birds are singing their melodies. She crosses snowy lands, and arrives at the edge of the world. There stands the forgotten fantasy factory. Can it help bring light to people of her city? A beautifully illustrated picture book full of imagination. For little and big dreamers ages 5 years and up. A true masterpiece, with stunning illustrations by Effie Lada that speak for themselves. Lisa’s Journey explores a society where social connections are fading, and everyday tasks push dreams aside. This story encourages children to continue dreaming, to be creative, and most of all, to connect with others.

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Reviews

In this Dutch import by Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award–nominated author-illustrator Lada, a girl living in a big, impersonal city endeavours to find “a way to help people see each other again. A way for them to see the beauty of the world.” Lisa boards a bus filled with silent, solitary passengers glued to their phones. As she leaves the drab, concrete urban environment behind and enters the countryside, the child finds a starry blue night sky and communes with nature. Lisa’s imaginative journey takes her to “the end of the world,” where she reignites an abandoned “fantasy factory.” Pink-hued puffs of cheerful, floral-patterned joy billow into the atmosphere: “Igniting dreams. Connecting lives.” There are many details in Lada’s intricate watercolor paintings to pore over. Enlivened, the city dwellers take an interest in one another and start to talk again, revealing idiosyncrasies they used to keep under wraps. A hopeful, fanciful tale about the beauty in connection. — Linda Ludke, Booklist In the big city where Lisa lives, all she hears is silence, and all she sees are people on their phones. Wanting to help people see beauty again, she sets off through the countryside, through a forest, through a labyrinth, to the sea, across snowy hills, and, finally, to the fantasy factory at the edge of the world, where she sparks the fires of imagination once more. Gorgeous watercolor illustrations follow her quest to resuscitate magic in this dreamlike tale. — Danielle Ballantyne, Foreword Starred Review

Author Information

Effie Lada was born in a small village in the western Peloponnese of Greece. She studied painting at a private school and has published more than 120 books. Her books have been translated into Italian, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Croatian, Turkish, and Romanian. Effie has taken part in international competitions and illustration exhibitions, and she was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2011 as well as the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2012.

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