Secrets of the Gnomes

In this republication of the charming sequel to Gnomes, Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen collaborate once again to recount their long, arduous journey through the forest at the request of the gnomes. The 200 hand-illustrated pages overflow with the authors' on-the-scene sketches and firsthand observations. Poortvliet and Huygen are invited as more than mere observers though.

After a meal of mushrooms and cream (which tastes as if it were made of "everything that light, air, sun, moon, and earth could produce"), they find that they have been turned into gnomes themselves! The authors take a penetrating look at their subjects: they learn of the tender emotional life of a gnome; they see and diagram the mechanics of ingenious gnome technology; they observe how gnomes administer justice in the wild; they are told how fairy tales first began (Little Red Riding Hood was actually a gnome!); and, best of all, they are allowed to see parts of the gnomes' fabled Secret Book.

Endowed with gnome characteristics such as exceptional vision and heightened senses of touch, smell, taste, and hearing--and decked in peaked gnome caps--Poortvliet and Huygen are led from Lapland across the Siberian wilderness by Nicolas, the gruff but kindly guide who teaches them the secrets of survival in the icy north. The three travel across varied modes of transportation--in a troika pulled by lemmings, on a fox's back, and on the head of a moose. They are even carried by the abominable snowman!

Lovers of gnomes will celebrate the arrival of this new volume and delight in the opportunity to know these elusive creatures better. Scores of enchanting illustrations by Poortvliet record the comings and goings of gnomes and the loving interaction with nature for which they are so famous.