Bart the spider has always been different. He's not like the other spiders though he looks just like them. He runs about, he jumps, he doesn't listen at school and is scolded by the teacher.

Bart is a dreamer, creating amazing patterns with his thread. But nobody wants to play with him and he stands at the edge of the playground, lonely and misunderstood.

Then his only friend, the wind, changes everything. "Have confidence and be yourself," the wind tells Bart. And, helped and inspired by the wind, Bart discovers that he has an incredible, unique talent...

When he shows his very first picture "Smiling in the Wind", his family and classmates are astonished - Bart has found his true self and happiness, and when he grows up he becomes - a famous artist! Yes, Bart is truly different!

Barroux has won many international honours, including the 2005 Prix Enfantasie and the 2015 Prix Medecins Sans Frontieres. Born in Paris, he grew up in Morocco and has also lived in Canada and New York. His most recent books are Free as a Bird (2024) and I Love You, Blue (2022). He is also illustrator of Hollis Kurman's Hello: A Counting Book of Kindnesses (2020) and Counting in Green (2023), all published by Otter-Barry Books. He lives in Paris.