Once upon a time there was a little ghost.
It lived all alone in the forest.
All the other ghosts were born in the forest because they died there.
They were very old or very young, and their families were too poor to feed them.
The ghosts could find their way out of the forest, towards the light, by following a thread.
But the little ghost didn’t want to leave just yet.
First of all, it wanted to go to school, and learn to read…
This evocative, melancholy story, The Ghost Child, is by Terhi Ekebom, an illustrator from Helsinki.
It’s part of the grand Finnish tradition of comic books for adults, including Tove Jansson’s Moomins.
Best of all, it’s published, like a film, with English subtitles; so if you speak no Finnish, or you’re a Finn starting to learn English, you can read the original and the translation together.
Asema, Ekebom’s publisher, has several subtitled comic books like this which are well worth a look. How did I find it? It was just there, on the shelf in the public library. A real public library, with lots and lots of good books, for free. Like we used to have in the UK in the olden days. But that’s another story…
Translator, editor, writer, reader
found in translation 
and now this book has won a prize!
http://www.booksfromfinland.fi/2014/02/puupaa-comics-prizes-2014/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BooksfromFinland+%28Books+from+Finland%29
[…] Ekebom (Finnish with English subtitles), The Ghost Child is a haunting and beautiful graphic […]