In Cats, the author offers several connected tales: a brave cat Mortimer goes to the sea to see the great white shark (meeting on his way the dangerous mister Darkly); a company of wandering acrobat-cats falls apart because of a very strange problem; Zigfrid and Zelda, brother and sister, practice the skills of measuring and sewing in their own way; and cat chefs, Leonard and Edgar are making pancakes for all of them.
Age: 4-6
Hilda is an adventurous chicken (rare thing in a chicken house); she embarks on a long journey, searching for the river Limpopo. Her adventures are told in words and pictures, in a series of postcards that she sends to her friends who have stayed home (as a normal chicken should). Her postcards are never just landscapes; the picture always shows someone she met on the road: two ladybugs who lost their sister, a pig prince, a walking hill, a cat teacher teaching only the letter A, and a number of other characters whose stories she tells in just a few words. They make a pleasant reading, full of little surprises that excite wonder and laughter.
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
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).
How to choose a profession? This fundamental question is treated in quite an unusual way when a girl decides to be “a girl from the circus” – and gives good reasons for her decision. The girl’s mother gives examples of professions with the same advantages, but Irene finds a way to follow her dream.
At first glance, the Moon seems to be the central character of these “twelve stories for daydreaming”, but various other characters alternate under its shine and go through many unexpected experiences: under its light, snow owls hold their annual ball, it serves the little fairy as the highest jump in the sky, a mouse will use it as a model for a picture of the ideal cheese… When it disappears from the sky, four cats go in search of it, and when it reappears it will serve as a swing for three crazy dogs, winners in howling competition… (illustrated by Pika Vončina)
Leo is sitting in front of the house, lounging in a chair and thinking about the past year. The summer was great and promised a good start to seventh grade: with his brother and some friends he had founded a rock band that played a crazy summer hit, played in an international orchestra in Slovenia, and also, he had bathed in the sea. But when he returned to the city, things started going downhill – their pet, a brown rabbit, disappeared without trace, seventh grade started “badly”, with a pile of books, endless assignments and papers, and disagreement broke out with the new fencing coach … Sanja Lovrenčić enriched Croatian youth prose with a realistic and entertaining novel which, through the eyes of the smart, witty and talkative boy Leo, his family and friends, makes us aware (or reminds us) of the problems of growing up. Through the clarity of a child’s mind, we are faced with the absurdities of the adult world, as well as absurdities in schooling (very well described in the chapter “When you write about spring for the seventh time”). Adolescence has never been easy, but this novel shows that it can and should be fun!
(recommendation of the Vladimir Nazor Library in Zagreb)
