Helene Uri and Tuva Synnevåg - Selected Title Authors

What is your book about?

Ylva and Leo live on the edge of a forest, a classic Scandinavian winter woodland where we find a fox, some hares, a wise old squirrel, a moose family, a Siberian jay and a young magpie. A man shows up at the beginning of December and darts sticking a bunch of plastic stakes between the trees: a new highway will be running straight through the forest. In their own ways, both the children and the animals begin a fight to stop the road from being built.

The animals are described realistically—apart from the fact that they can talk and collaborate. It was important to me that they otherwise behave as they would in real life, eating what they naturally eat and reacting as real animals would. And when the animals try to sabotage the construction, each one does what they do best: the beavers fell trees, the woodpeckers drill holes, the mice eat the workers’ food, and so on.

The Road Through the Winter Forest can be read as a countdown to Christmas, with one chapter for each day of December—or devoured in one sitting at any time of the year!

What inspired you to write this book?

The animals can communicate with each other, each with their own special way of speaking—a detail I had a lot of fun crafting! But only one animal, the Siberian jay, can understand human language. She is the key to the story, because progress in the world depends on our ability to understand one another and express precisely what we mean. I hope this story inspires readers to protest and speak up in whatever way they can. Like it or not, the natural world around us is disappearing bit by bit.

I want this book to remind us about the true inhabitants of the forests. There is a hidden world all around us, one that we depend on completely. We can’t ever forget that. We are often so blind to everything and everyone living alongside us. When we walk through the forest, there are eyes watching us, noses smelling us—but we just stroll on past… staring down at our phones.
I was inspired to write this book when I looked up and locked eyes with a small Siberian jay that had the most incredible orange plumage.

I was absolutely thrilled when I was asked to illustrate this book because it aligns perfectly with my own values and perspective on nature. The story addresses a relevant issue, but it also has a timeless quality that I’ve tried to reflect in the illustrations. The images are shown from the perspective of the children and animals, and I chose to draw and paint on paper to capture a sense of warmth and authenticity. With my background in animation, I also kept in mind that these characters could be animated, designed to be easily brought to life on film should the opportunity ever arise. The book’s layout, designed in collaboration with Majlin Keilhaus at Gyldendal, draws inspiration from older books where ornamentation enhances the world of the story. Each chapter starts with a circular illustration, creating a recurring rhythm and a unique visual identity. I had a lot of fun experimenting with this round frame, at times allowing it to stop being simply a frame and instead become a hole the animals could step out of or perch on. This was a playful creative process, and I hope that energy shines through while still maintaining a classic feel.

Read more

See full presentation of the book here

Read more about Helene Uri here

See all NORLA’s Selected Titles for the spring 2025 here