Author and illustrator: Ulla Donner
Swedish original: Stoppa tjuven!
Publisher: Schildts & Söderströms, 2025
Genre: children’s picture book
Number of pages: 31 pp.
Reading material: Swedish original, English translation
A furry wild chase across a humorous and stunningly illustrated book for the youngest.
Ulla Donner’s Stop the thief! is a fast-paced picture book in verse featuring a four-legged thief, furry heroes, and hilarious language. Perfect to read out loud, enchanting with its colorful and expressive illustrations, and hilarious with its language, Stop the thief! is a book to read again, and again, and again.
A charming bandit dog runs from page to page, stealing the other dogs’ most prized possessions. A unicycle, a diamond ring, and a stunning cowboy hat are just a few of the spoils he can boast, but soon an upset mob of robbed dogs is on his trail. As the victims lead the chase, our plunderous doggo finally sets his eye on the most irresistible of targets: a ball. The result is a furry pileup and a great confusion, but a broad representation of dog breeds and a humorous ending are guaranteed.
Ulla Donner is one of the most prominent cartoonists in the North. She has been awarded the Urhunden Prize (2024), the Finlandia prize for the best Finnish graphic novel (2020), and the Puupäähattu Prize (2025). Her previous graphic novels Spleenish, Crap, and The Natural Comedy have been praised in both Finland and Sweden.
“When the celebrated cartoonist Ulla Donner debuts in picture book format she does so with an absolutely adorable thief drama. Like a wonderful potpourri of dogs in all possible forms and colours.” – Dagens Nyheter Newspaper
About the author
Ulla Donner