SOMEWHERE ELSE

George Laurent is a duck like most any other. He enjoys a bit of gardening, baking, and wearing his dapper cap. But unlike other birds, George doesn’t travel north or south for the winter. When his friends ask him to come to see Paris at night, or the beauty of the Alaskan tundra, or the baobab trees of Madagascar, George always has an excuse: “My hat might blow off” or “I have yoga class” or “I have too much ironing to do.”

As George finds himself alone again, a bear named Pascal Lombard, looking for a warm place to stay for the winter, comes to visit. When he learns that George never learned how to fly, he’s determined to help him learn how so that he can see the world (or, at the least, somewhere else). Somewhere Else is an ode to stepping outside of your door and exploring the world, and how sometimes the best way to see it is with the company of a good friend. It is also a quirky and charming little story about an unlikely pair—a duck and a gigantic bear—who have a fun little adventure. Gus Gordon is an Australian born writer and illustrator of books for small people and older people who like small people’s books. Gus lives with his wife and three kids on the Northern beaches of Sydney. Herman and Rosie, his latest original picture book, was a Children’s Book Council of Australia honour book and was nominated for the Sakura Medal.