March 2025 Picture Book Selection | First Editions Club

New York, NY: NorthSouth Books | Simon and Schuster (February 8, 2025)

First Edition. Signed on bookplate by Rebecca Gugger and Simon Röthlisberger

Hardback. Decorated Boards.

In this picture book packed with playful vocabulary, a young boy finds new words and discovers how to use them to change the world around him.

Oscar discovers a magnificent treasure chest. When he opens it, he is disappointed at what’s inside: nothing but words. What type of treasure is that?! But when he tosses fluorescent into the bushes, a bright yellow hedgehog runs by! Soon Oscar has created a featherlight backhoe, a docile crocodile, and a monstrous—oops!—adorable beetle. Using new words is fun!

Before long Oscar has emptied the chest and is left wordless. He doesn’t know where to find more words, until his neighbor Louise gives him some guidance: you can find words anytime and anywhere. Oscar begins a new hunt for words and learns all sorts of inventive ways to describe the world around him.

An enthralling, phenomenal, adventuresome, imaginative, endearing, ear-catching and joyful book about language that’s sure to make kids laugh–and learn!

Rebecca Gugger and Simon Röthlisberger were both born in Switzerland and live together in Thun near forests, mountains, and fresh air. Rebecca is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer who studied at the HKB (Bern University of the Arts) and likes to have her head in the clouds. Simon is a trained graphic designer currently working as an art director and has been known to hoist a sail or two. Every now and then the two work together as a team, wielding pen and pencil side by side.