This Would Never Happen to Rita

當好友 Rita 的作品受到稱讚時，小女孩卻因自己畫紙上的痕跡而感到失落。隨著更多痕跡出現，她只看見瑕疵，直到這些污點開始變得有趣──跳舞、說話，甚至邀請她參與一場驚喜冒險。故事以輕快的筆觸傳遞訊息：污點不是失敗，而是新可能的開始。這本書讓讀者在翻頁之間，體會「混亂」也能成為創意的養分。

A stunning new picture book from Simona Ciraolo who, with wit, style and emotional insight, shows her readers that imperfections and making a mess are beautiful, vital parts of childhood.

A little girl and her best friend, Rita, are drawing together. Rita’s drawing is very beautiful and her dad tells her that he will keep it forever. The girl looks at her own drawing. It's good, too, she thinks, but then ... she sees it: a stain. The next day, she finds another stain – an inky blue mark on her crisp white dress. This would never happen to Rita. The stain begins to blot everything and soon, it is all the girl can see. Everything is ruined. The stain, however, has other ideas. It begins to take on a life of its own – dancing across the pages of the book, speaking to the girl and encouraging her to see that it is not a mess or a mistake ... but something joyful and surprising. Life is full of beautiful mess.

Simona Ciraolo is the illustrator of Can’t Catch Me! by Timothy Knapman and the author-illustrator of If Winter Comes, Tell it I'm Not here, and other books for children. She studied animation at the National Film School in Turin, Italy, and earned an MA in Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, where she was awarded the Sebastian Walker Award in 2014. Born in Sardinia, Italy, Simona now lives in London. Find her online at simonaciraolo.com or on Instagram as @simonaciraolo.