The World's Smallest Savior

Original title: Le plus petit sauveur du monde

Publication Date:

September 2022

Pages:

95

Original language and publisher

French | Editions XYZ

Territories Handled

English (World excl Canada), France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia

Territories Sold

French excl. North America (Eyrolles)
English (World) (Greystone Books)

Genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

Awards:

  • Prix des libraires du Québec (Jeunesse) 2024 (longlisted)
  • Prix Espiègle 2023 (winner)
  • Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général (Littérature jeunesse – Livres illustrés) 2023 (winner)

The World's Smallest Savior

Original title: Le plus petit sauveur du monde

Synopsis

If we find the author’s personality reflected in the main character, we recognize Eve Patenaude’s signature in the softness of the lines and colours, where purple and turquoise dominate, in the low-key presence of the birds, which represent the mothers, and in the graceful beauty of the flowers, which symbolize both fragility and hope. — Le Devoir

A huge favorite. Samuel Larochelle’s words shake us as much as they lull us. Such beauty emanates from every page of the book, even those that reflect the boy’s despair, because we can tell that he wants to have hope.  Le Journal de Montréal

An illustrated album aimed at young people that addresses with sensitivity, lucidity and tact one of the major concerns of our society nowadays: eco-anxiety. […] There is a poetry in Samuel’s words that disarms us and some truths that reach deep into our hearts. — ArtsZé

Carried and magnified by the illustrations of Eve Patenaude, The World’s Littlest Savior reminds us how hope always finds a way, even in the face of the most serious questions. – Gabriel Guérin, Librairie Pantoute

Reading this album is like entering a bubble of love and fragility to meet Florent, a different boy. […] This is a story which opens the dialogue on the future of our planet and which ends in a luminous way. Heartbreaking and hopeful. – Lise Chiason, Les Libraires

A graphic novel that offers a heartfelt reflection on eco-anxiety and the concerns it raises in children, one of the greatest social ills of our era. A text that not only stirs our conscience, but also educates. The straightforward narrative is both perceptive and sensitive, ending with a salutary ray of hope that praise small actions.

Can our planet really support this many people? What if ten-year-old Florent himself is one too many?

One night, Florent overhears a conversation between his mothers: given the state of the planet, they aren’t sure whether they want to have another child. Though he can’t understand all of the words they use, he picks up on the hesitation in their voices, the fear in their eyes, the hand one places on the other’s stomach, like when he has a hard time falling asleep.

Florent learns that there are too many humans on Earth, that we shouldn’t be having any more children, that we should have stopped a long time ago and that even he is one too many. Will his mothers hear his silent cry?

Marketing Information

  • English translation available

Other books by these authors