Emma Soffia is eleven years old; she has a father who is always at sea and a mother who makes regular attempts to break the Icelandic record for sulking. The grandfather she has never met appears on the doorstep with his dog Tarzan, after which nothing is like it was before. Are You God, Granddad? is a warm and entertaining story by Thorgrimur Thrainsson, a writer who has long been one of Iceland’s best-loved children’s writers. Here, he introduces his readers to pastures new and fascinating characters who are wise as well as humorous. This story was selected from a great number of scripts submitted for the 2010 Icelandic Children’s Book Award competition.

• The Icelandic Children’s Book Award 2010

“While the author has plenty on his mind he treats his material with sensitivity and poise. … Large goals, but handled extremely convincingly in a witty style, perky and often childlike in perception and everyday in its descriptions and experience. … The book’s message is well thought through and the writer has a lot to communicate, but he handles this sensitively and with poise. As a result, young readers are offered a story that aims to take them further and expose them to views of life that are rarely to be found in books for the 11+ age group. The prize is, consequently, thoroughly deserved. “
FRETTATIMINN WEEKLY, PALL BALDVIN BALDVINSSON