Tiny Dancer by Peter Guest, illustrated by Mateja Jager

Title: Tiny Dancer

Author: Peter Guest, illustrated by Mateja Jager

Genre: Fiction/Fables

Publisher: Dirt Lane Press

Published: 1^st August 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $27.95

Synopsis:  A gentle fable about living life to the full.

Some creatures live for decades or even centuries, but mayflies live for just a day. Inspired by both the brevity of life and its unfathomable splendour, Tiny Dancer is about making each moment count.

Dirt Lane Press an imprint of WestWords Ltd

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Tiny Dancer takes place in the bush, in an almost ethereal and fantastical place. The world we live in is filled with all sorts of plants and creatures with long and short lives. Whether its birds, whales, trees or tiny insects, every life is celebrated. Every life is shown as worthy and important. At the heart of this book is a fairy called Konomi and her life cycle. From start to finish, the joy of life and its intricacies dances across the pages.

Patrick’s story is simple, yet intricate and layered, with sadness and joy. Knowing that some lives start and end within days evokes the brief existence of some creatures like the mayfly, represented as fairies in this gorgeous book with its purple tones. This is a gentle story that weaves itself around wonderful illustrations in purple tones, where the story seems to come to life. But these illustrations also work with the text and acknowledge the bittersweet nature of this story.

The story builds slowly, going through the various life cycles of whales and trees, and showing how nature is connected to everything within it. The fairies or mayflies are centred in the second half of the story, and they truly come to life in Mateja’s gorgeous illustrations. She is a true artist, because the illustrations are ethereal and realistic at the same time. They are illustrations that adults and children can appreciate.

The beauty of this story is in its fable or fairytale-like quality, as though it is a fairytale about the joy of life for the modern day. It celebrates small wonders and joys of life, reminding us to appreciate what we have and not take it for granted. Because life is there to be appreciated, and together, this is what the story is telling us. Dirt Lane Press are bringing out unique books that are doing something different than other picture books. Having these powerful yet simply written books is just as important as the fun ones. We need all sorts of stories, and books like this can help explain life cycles and death to children, reassuring them that it is okay to be sad, or okay to wonder. Wonder is at the heart of this story, and I hope that it finds its readers and spreads it wings widely for many to enjoy.