Akvilina Cicėnaitė, Reda Tomingas. Jūrų žvaigždė, kuri ieškojo širdies (The Starfish Looking for a Heart), Vilnius: Alma littera, 2023. – 32 p.  

When a starfish called Little Lemon sets off to explore the Coral Sea, she meets a well-educated flatfish, Matilda. It is from this flatfish that Little Lemon finds out that she doesn’t have a heart. Little Lemon decides to ask advice from the blue whale as to where she can find a heart. On the way, she meets a variety of sea creatures and overcomes a lot of obstacles.
The author enhances the biological fact of starfish not having hearts into a metaphor and employs it to examine what comprises kindness and what being kind really means. The book also discusses the importance of friendship, ecology, and the danger of pollution to marine life.

Akvilina Cicėnaitė (b. 1979) is a writer for young adults and adults. She grew up in Vilnius and later moved to the other side of the world. She obtained a PhD in New Zealand and has been living in Australia since 2012. Her creative career started with popular stories for girls and then moved on to problem novels for young adults. She has won multiple awards for her works.

Reda Tomingas (b. 1979) is a children’s book illustrator and director of animated films. She is a nature lover, so it’s no surprise that all the children’s books she has illustrated focus on the world of nature. She takes part in festivals and exhibitions. She has illustrated many books including Džiunglių istorijos (Jungle Stories, 2022) by Saulė Paltanavičiūtė, Katinas Miegošius (The Sleepy Cat, 2022) by Egidijus Zaikauskas, and Kaip Grikis berniuką augino (Grikis Brings Up a Little Boy, 2022) by Daiva Čepauskaitė.
Illustrator’s portfolio: https://www.behance.net/redatomingas

Contact for rights: D.Sinkeviciute@almalittera.lt