I Am Reading: Where The Dead Live by Sam Fern, illustrated by Rômolo D'Hipólito
Where The Dead Live by Sam Fern 👉
| Illustrated by: | Rômolo D'Hipólito |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Templar Books |
| Publish date: | 18th September 2025 |
Where The Dead Live is an illustrated guide to the dead; the rituals, celebrations, myths, ideas about the world beyond and curious facts from history.
But despite the subject matter, it's not a sad book – not at all! Starting with festivals like Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, it shows how people remember and celebrate the ones they loved, keeping their memories burning. It delves into ancient spooky catacombs, climbs tall towers and delights in stories of the afterlife from ancient and modern peoples.
The text from Sam Fern is clear, friendly, full of detail and often rather poetic, and the art from Rômolo D'Hipólito is just gorgeous (and occasionally, gorgeously grotesque!). There are stories and characters from many different cultures, a bit of history, a bit of the macabre, all in bite-sized chunks and all perfectly suited for middle-grade readers. I would have DEVOURED this as as kid!
Where The Dead Live is a great introduction to the rituals of death and what they tell us about life, sensitively told and gorgeously illustrated. It's dead good!