Greenaway Shortlist - Oliver - Please let us know what you think in the comments.

Oliver is different. He enjoys his solitude. He likes playing with his friends, who are puppets, stuffed animals, and other toys. With his rich imagination, Oliver's day is never dull. There are bridges to cross, sharks to fight, and treasures to find. But maybe toys don't always give a boy everything he needs.

The muted colour palette, strange landscape and the composition of each spread really help to reveal much more of Oliver's difference, isolation and loneliness than the text alone. The quirky humorous details such as conveying his toy's reactions to him and including Olivia ever-present in the background point to the hopefulness of the outcome.