FICTION

Typewriter

by Yevgenia Nayberg (text) & illus. by Yevgenia Nayberg
Creative Company. Feb. 2020. 32p. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9781568463445.
COPY ISBN
Gr 3-5–Brought to the United States from Russia by an aspiring novelist, a typewriter (with Cyrillic text) becomes obsolete when the author purchases a laptop with a shiny screen. The machine feels unloved, and eventually the writer gives it away. The typewriter is oddly charming, with eyes on his ribbon spools and a parenthetical mouth that smiles or frowns across his spacebar. Mixed-media illustrations jump off the page despite the muted palette. The text is artfully integrated into the illustrations, crisscrossing city streets or stepping upstairs.
VERDICT The delicately poetic story subtly alludes to an immigrant experience of hard work and adapting to a new culture, but it also offers hope that old customs will continue to have a purpose in our rapidly changing world. A uniquely beautiful story that may appeal to slightly older readers.
Reviewed by Chance Lee Joyner, Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library, NH , Mar 01, 2020

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