#300 of 1001 · May 27, 2021

Imagine making a discovery that you’re convinced will bring you fame and success. Now imagine that some unknown entity has crept into your life to stymie that success. What would you do to outwit your foe? This is the very question faced by the protagonist of Sybil Wettasinghe’s The Umbrella Thief. Kiri Mama leaves his small Sri Lankan village and takes a bus trip to the big city, where he discovers umbrellas. Realizing these items will be popular with his neighbors, who typically hold banana leaves over their heads in the rain, he purchases one. However, when he stops for a meal at a coffee shop on the way home, the umbrella vanishes from its hiding spot outside. Dispirited, he returns the next day for a new umbrella, but he stops at the coffee shop again and this umbrella too is taken from the exact same place. The cycle repeats, with Kiri Mama buying and losing umbrella after umbrella. He finally hits upon a solution that allows him to locate his missing wares and, having amassed so many, he opens an umbrella shop. But just who—or what—is the mysterious umbrella thief? Told with a mixture of engaging prose and bright, thickly lined art, Wettasinghe’s gentle story (originally published in Japan as “Kasa Doroboh”) saves its cheery surprise for the very last page. #umbrella #thief #srilanka #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #classicchildrensbooks #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks