Selemonas Paltanavičius, Lina Eitmantytė-Valužienė. Sukasi metų ratas (The Wheel of the Year Turns), Kaunas: Debesų ganyklos, 2025. – 224 p.

The book The Wheel of the Year Turns tells us about the changes in nature throughout the seasons and months of the year. Each chapter, dedicated to a particular month, begins with a reminder of important calendar holidays and then describes climatic features as well as the behaviour and life cycles of birds, wild animals, and butterflies living in Lithuania. The climatological and biological information presented in the book is scientifically accurate, yet it is conveyed through engaging narratives about living creatures that bring the text closer to literary storytelling. A similar fusion of factual and artistic elements characterises the visual aspect of the book. Selemonas Paltanavičius’ photographs are combined with detailed, realistic illustrations created by Lina Eitmantytė-Valužienė in pencil and watercolour. Her illustrations are distinguished by sensitivity and careful attention to the characteristic movements and expressions of animals. The spread for each month includes a QR code that allows readers to watch a short video complementing the illustrations and text. For this reason, the book can be regarded simultaneously as an informative, educational, and artistic publication.

Selemonas Paltanavičius (b. 1956) is a writer, natural scientist, photographer, and member of the Lithuanian Writers’ Union. He graduated in biology from Vilnius University in 1979. Paltanavičius has published more than four thousand articles on nature and written around one hundred books for children and young readers on the same topic. His work has been recognised with numerous awards. Together with other authors he received the Petras Abukevičius Prize for the best film about Lithuanian nature (2003). For his contributions to environmental awareness and protection he was awarded the Česlovas Kudaba Prize (2008). He received the Ministry of Education and Science Children’s Literature Prize (2016). His book Gamtos metų ratas (The Natural Year Cycle) won the IBBY Prize for the best non-fiction book of the year (2017), while Sniego žmogelių žiema (The Winter of Little Snowmen) received the Pranas Mašiotas Prize (2019). In 2022 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Gediminas for promoting Lithuania internationally. For his book Tadukas, Tadas ir svajonių paukštė (Little Tadas, Tadas and the Dream Bird) he received the Vytautas Tamulaitis Literary Prize (2023), and in 2025 he was honoured with the Valdas Adamkus Prize for educational work and long-term efforts to foster responsible, nature-loving citizens.

Lina Eitmantytė-Valužienė (b. 1970) is a book illustrator who has created illustrations for forty-seven books of poetry and prose. She is a member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association. In 1997 she graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a degree in graphic arts. She has worked in the publishing department of the Lithuanian Information Institute and at the publishing house Nieko rimto. From 2019 to 2021 she served as the designer and editor-in-chief of the children’s literary magazine Laimiukas, which she founded. Her illustrations have been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Lithuania, Finland, Slovakia, Italy, and South Korea. More than twenty-five years ago she began collaborating with Selemonas Paltanavičius and has illustrated twelve of his books.

Contact for rights: benas@booksmugglersagency.com