Tomas Dirgėla, Dalia Karpavičiūtė. Luko Šiaudelio serija: Lukas Šiaudelis laimi milijoną (The Lukas Šiaudelis series: Lukas Šiaudelis Wins a Million), Vilnius: Tyto Alba, 2023. – 144 p. 

This is the third part of the series revolving around a hard-up shoemaker and his son Lukas, who have an unusual last name, Šiaudelis (Straw). All of the books in the series encourage readers to pursue their dreams despite unfavourable circumstances in life. The first part, Lukas Šiaudelis Does a Slam Dunk, is about Lukas’ passion for basketball and his fascination with his favourite basketball player, Jonas Kamuoliūnas. Lukas scrupulously attends basketball training and aims to be like Kamuoliūnas. Can he make it? In the second part, Lukas Šiaudelis Dances Ballet, the author continues the story of Lukas’ misfortune (the family room has burned down, Lukas breaks an expensive sculpture) and his new challenge – ballet dancing. In the third book, something sensational happens to the Šiaudelis family – they win a prize worth a million! Is this going to change the life of Lukas and his father?

Tomas Dirgėla (b. 1989) is a popular writer for children and young adults with more than 45 books to his name. He lives in Vilnius. Much loved by children readers, his books have been published with multiple reprints. Since 2016, he has been an independent professional writer. In 2018, he founded a writers’ music band called Knygų vaikai (The Book Children). Dirgėla’s books have been translated into 13 languages. He has won a number of prestigious awards, such as the Aldona Liobytė Award for the most significant debut of the year (2015), presented by the Lithuanian section of IBBY, the Children’s Literature Award (2022), and the Lithuanian section of IBBY Second Prize for the best children’s book of the year (2016).

Dalia Karpavičiūtė is an artist who has illustrated all the books from this series by Tomas Dirgėla: Lukas Šiaudelis deda iš viršaus (Lukas Šiaudelis Does a Slam Dunk, 2018), Lukas Šiaudelis šoka baletą (Lukas Šiaudelis Dances Ballet, 2021), as well as Apie raganą Šiokiątokią (About the Witch ThisandThat, 2014); Benas – sapnų siuvėjas (Ben the Tailor of Dreams, 2018); and Pūkio Pasakos (The Tales of Pūkis, 2013–2023), a book series by Vytautas V. Landsbergis. She has received, among other prizes, the Lithuanian Section of IBBY Award for the most artistic two-coloured illustrations for Ben the Tailor of Dreams by Tomas Dirgėla in 2018.
Illustrator’s portfolio: https://www.behance.net/dalios

Contact for rights: auguste@tytoalba.lt