Safe Journey
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The Magic Eyeglasses
15,90 € × 1 Ukupno : 30,50 €
The first picture book written and illustrated by the young, but already renowned visual artist Ivan Tudek. His story about a harmonious world, disturbed by the intrusion of a howling bear, is told in a visual style inspired by comic books, in black and white (the picture book may also be used as coloring book).
Age: 4-6
Drawing on the Jewish visual and literary tradition, Melita Kraus rewrites the legend of Golem of Prague, highlighting its fantastic and amusing side: funny episodes, caused by the fact that Golem’s creators succeeded in making him alive and strong, but not very bright, make the story lively and full of surprises. Placing the frame story (about a little boy who gets lost in the old Prague) in the present time, and narrating in a simple and contemporary language, Melita Kraus establishes a close relationship with the young reader, and draws her/him into the world of her imagination.
Age: 6-8
The Pursuit of Winter is the first text that a renowned Croatian poet wrote for children. The plot is triggered by the (unspoken) question: “Could something lovely become boring?” It obviously can, if it is only and always lovely, especially if the thing we are talking about is the weather. The picture book takes the reader – along with the animal protagonists, squirrel, wolf, deer, ants and birds – on a journey toward something absent but desired. And the miracle resides in the possibility to join forces and bring about the (unlikely) change.
The illustrations by Mingsheng-Pi make a perfect counterpoint to Kirin’s laconic and lyrical text. The illustrator received a Special Mention of the “Grigor Vitez” Award.
Age: 4-6
In the county of rabbits the young reader will get to know the caring rabbit mom, dad who tells bedtime stories, their sons Eusebius the diary writer, Hugo the trumpet player, and other members of the large family, whose merry adventures are told in pictures interwoven with words. Texts by Pika Vončinahave an original ludic quality and often contain unobtrusive reflection about the natural world and human relations.
Picture book based on seashore debris used to evoke a setting and to provoke a story: shells and rubble become seashore, stones and wire become fish, and a little pebble-island becomes a witness of a fair tale that suddenly happens in the shallow water. The writer and the illustrator create an interplay between elements (water, stone, wind), transforming the ordinary set of things into a fantastic movement of awakened life. Fairy Tale of Shallow Waters served as a basis for a number of art workshops for preschool children.
Playing with the motives of Andersen’s “Little girl with the matches” Melita Kraus tells the story about a little she-dog named Lili, whose old master got ill and had to go to the hospital – on the Christmas Eve. The little dog is left alone and tries to win someone’s attention, but nobody cares for her. Very tired and hungry she rambles through the town, until she is too exhausted to continue. She lies down and sees – in a dream – her dog-parents. They give her advice – to knock at the door in front of which she is lying…
Simply told and emotional, ideal reading for the young children (+3).
The face of the heroine of this artist’s picture book is full of spots, her body full of hair, there’s the word “Fat” floating around her, her breasts are so little you can barely see them. But these aren’t flaws – despite the fact that a glamorous “face from a magazine cover” also finds its way into the story. Flaw as a concept simply does not exist for this mirror. Without hiding anything, and with an untameable smile, the heroine keeps looking at herself exactly as she is. No imposed beauty standards intimidate her. No threatening words („Carnegiea gigantea”!), nor horrendous images (monkey-like hairiness or a body too big for a bathtub) make her flinch…
Using humorous and expressive forms, the author of this book, Agata Lučić, invites readers – primarily young, female readers – to take a look in the flawless mirror and to accept their bodies such as they are, with a smile on their face.
Book #4904
After reading old Croatian folktales in a very serious book for adults,author Sanja Lovrenčić decided to set her favourite ones free and make them more accessible to children of today, telling them in her own literary voice, adjusting them slightly so that they would be more understandable. In eleven short tales, we meet a wide range of interesting heroes and antiheroes, from fox brides and tiny fairies to ravenous young women and mean bunnies. Set in magical and mystical forest settings skillfully depicted by Branka Hollingsworth, these tales – sometimes whimsy, sometimes not – now get to live on in the minds and hearts of new generations of young readers and listeners, saved from the terrible destiny of being forgotten.
A basket for mushroom picking, a blanket, and a little black dog – that’s how this story begins. Even though he was abandoned in the forest, the little dog was lucky: he was adopted by two nice people. “Tintin and his Friends” is a diary of the first year they spent together, recorded mainly from the dog’s perspective. We see various little events, from their life at home to from their walks in the park, feeling the warmth the three of them share and following Tintin’s adventures with various dog-friends. In a multitude of small scenes Mingsheng Pi – a Chinese painter based in Zagreb and Tintin’s owner – tells, almost without words, a gentle and cheerful story about animals and people, showing an exceptional talent to spot details and, with just a few strokes of his brush, to evoke a space, an atmosphere, characters, and their relations. Readers of all ages will enjoy Tintin’s adventures, and the youngest among them will learn something new about dogs and their humans – like the importance a dog may have for a with hearing-impaired person.
Addressing the children for the first time, the renowned Darkville, the setting and the main character of this picture book written by a distinguished author Iva Bezinović-Haydon, is a sad town: all plants are being systematically cut there. No one really knows whose idea that was, but two city officials play a significant role in its implementation. One of them stamps the word ‘NO’ on all requests for a change, the other maintains order with his cutting tools – until a little blue flower emerges from a crack in the asphalt and everything starts to change… Using simple words and an appealing plot, the author talks about the need humans feel for the living green world, for colors, diversity and freedom, but also about different ways of standing up to bad rules imposed from somewhere above – it can be done in a hidden manner, in private spaces, or openly, in public, joining forces with other people. The young illustrator Laura Martinović brought the story about Darkville to life with her playful and warm illustrations, full of creative visual ideas and details that enrich the text.
In her second artist’s book, Agata Lučić takes readers of all generations to a flea market – an almost monochromatic blue world filled with various objects. Each thing there carries traces of time spent in someone’s life, traces of somebody’s past. The young visual artist evokes fragments of life that “forgotten things” shared with their humans in her original, very recognizable style, gradually creating a warm atmosphere – with bits of magic. The last double-page holds a surprise: as the objects manage to attract new owners and are being accepted along with their stories, various colors enter the world of the picture book. It is no longer a space of memories; it becomes a living space. “Forgotten Things” are both nostalgic and cheerful, they urge the reader to open up to hidden histories of unknown people and certain values accessible only to a watchful eye; they invite both children and adults to dream, offering a world of peculiar visual pleasure.
We acquire and discard things too easily, warns the author of this gentle and playful picture book; but even when they have already been discarded, left to their fate on the stands of some open-air “mini market”, they can be looked at, singled out from the crowd, appropriated, restored, and brought back to life.
Book #4909
In the best tradition of young adult novels, but with a fresh voice, Josip Čekolj recounts the story of his rascals — four friends on the brink of adulthood. Although the town through which they roam is imaginary, their love and confusion, their conflicts and blunders, much like their need for warmth and belonging are all very real. As the rascals learn to find their way ‘in the gutter’, various characters show up to guide them along. Some are more trustworthy than others, and they largely come from the fringes of society, with perhaps the most important being an old lady with her cats and flair for poetry. And as usually happens in coming-of-age stories, their wading through murky waters becomes a first step towards maturity. The inspiration for this book was the exhibition ‘Rascals and Frogs’ by the visual artist Dominik Vuković, themed around memories of childhood. He illustrated this edition in close collaboration with the author, resulting in a special relationship between the text and illustrations.
The Creepy House is a skilful blend of a story about a family intending to move from the city to an old house surrounded by nature, an old-fashioned game of riddles, and fairy-tale elements that lend the whole book an air of fantasy that children find so irresistible. Solving the riddles given to them by the mysterious voice from the fireplace, Florijan and Klara explore the house and the garden, noticing so many things they did not see at first. With a bit of fear and lots of laughter, they experience a real adventure in search of a key they will use to ‘unlock’ the magic of their future home… The author shows a very good understanding of a child’s way of thinking and combines an imaginative plot with a subtle educational element about the world of plants and animals. The illustrator follows the story closely, complementing it with a number of small artistic surprises.
The story about Ema – written by Vanja Marković, an expert in inclusive and social pedagogy – deals with an important topic of our time: the way people perceive each other. Roaming the streets of her hometown, the little heroine is trying to find someone to play with. She encounters a whole bunch of various characters, but they notice only her looks – her shaggy hair, her huge eyes, her dirty jacket. They all nag her and none of them wants to follow her imagination, but her ideas for games remain on pages, as possibilities for readers themselves to develop. In the end even Ema repeats the pattern that surrounds her: when a yellow cat asks her to play with it she refuses the invitation, thinking that a black cat would be much more interesting. In a playful way the story opens the readers’ eyes to the wrongs implied in superficial ways of looking at others. The storyteller’s style is simple and flowing, very well adapted to the target group of readers (6-8). The illustrations by Vibor Juhas complement and enrich the text; they are close to the aesthetics of comic books and full of little visual surprises.
Sophia, the little heroine of this story, wants to help her mother to bake a cake. Mom tells her to fetch the cake pan from the storage room, but Sophia is afraid of that dark space – she’s so afraid that she doesn’t even dare to stretch her arm to turn the light on. But then comes her dad and gives her a pair of special eyeglasses – eyeglasses that make the world look different. And more than that! They not only change the look of things in darkness, but also give the person wearing them the ability to talk with animals. Looking through the magic eyeglasses, Sophia meets a spider in the storage room and a moth in her bedroom. As she opens a window, she sees a weasel and a saturnia moth in the garden. Her encounters with these creatures show that beings who look nice are not always nice – and vice versa. This warm and breezy story teaches young readers self-confidence, the importance of getting to know someone before making a judgment, as well as the fact that first impressions are not always reliable.
Book #4906
Marija in Cities belongs to the series of Sanja Lovrenčić’s picture books about Croatian visual artists; this one is about the well-known photographer Marija Braut. The story about her is told from the viewpoint of her inseparable companion, the analogue camera, which directly and simply reports on their shared travels and work, the motifs of Marija’s photography, and her feeling for people and spaces, which the camera sometimes shared with the artist, and at other times just longed for calm scenes that are easier to capture. This is a lyrically intoned, very subtle depiction of the artist’s life and work, filled with a vestige of nostalgia for the great age of analogue photography, but also with hope in its preservation. In addition, the author offers the young readers an easy-to-understand introduction to the basics of this art technique.(Adrian Pelc, ed)
Book #4896
