Picture Books

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Picture Books

Piccola C

Piccola con piccolo

13,00 €

The little girl Piccola shows an unusual feeling for sounds. Imitating the chirping of birds, the crackling of fire, the sounds of the wind and everything else that surrounds her, Piccola amazes the listeners singing her little melodies. When she comes to a
music school and old Professore starts teaching her to play the piccolo, the smallest girl with the smallest flute becomes ‘Piccola con piccolo’; her Bird Music becomes a huge success and she is invited to perform all over the world. Piccola con piccolo
is the first picture book written by Bruno Mezić. Creating a likable character of the little girl Piccola,
telling about her adventures in sound, and skillfully playing with Italian words, the author introduces young readers to the terminology of classical music. Illustrations by the young visual artist and designer Klasja Habjan imaginatively and playfully follow the text and bring to life the original little heroine and her music.

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saturn_naslovnica

Saturn at the Winter Swimming Pool

20,00 €

The story begins one January morning when the planet Saturn suddenly materializes in the big swimming pool, at first in a smaller version of itself. The unexpected event shakes up the sleepy routine of the regular visitors of the swimming pool called ‘Future’. Lacking logical explanations, but brimming with their own ideas, they try to adapt to the new circumstances, hoping the planet will go away on its own. Some try to extract profit from the event, others pretend that nothing is happening, but finally it becomes clear to them all that they simply have to kick out the constantly growing Saturn out of their pool while it’s still possible! This picture-book, fully authored by Vendi Vernić, one of the foremost Croatian illustrators of the younger generation, will appeal to readers of all ages. The story can be read and interpreted on multiple levels: as an absurdist game of imagination, as a little study of a specific community, or as an allegory on melancholy and depression.

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Tminice C

Darklets

15,00 €

In this picture book Croatian author Igor Rajki, winner of the prestigious Grigor Vitez award and the award of the Fairy tale festival of Ogulin, deals with a contemporary issue – the issue of the excessive presence of electronic devices and their screens in our everyday life. He does this in an original way, using his distinctive imaginative poetic language, kindling the readers’ imagination and making them think at the same time. The narrator of the story is giving, as if he were a professor of some kind, a lesson about ‘assembling of darkness in the dark’ – an enchanting phenomenon that occurs at the end of the day, in closed spaces, when darkness begins to descend from the ceiling and rise from the floor; the two darknesses embrace each other and slowly turn into the thick dark. But that is not all; during their game they create small sprouts, so called darklets. Darklets playfully twirl around objects, taming their shapes and leaving no trace. But when various screens start to interfere, a problem occurs: grayish shadows appear where darklets should be… The literary story about darklets is narrated in another, visual language by Klasja Habjan, a young illustrator and designer. She creates impressive, secretive life in spaces on the edge between night and day, spaces inhabited by fleeting human and animal figures, fragments of objects and fragments of their interactions; she does this with extraordinary inventiveness, on a very high aesthetic level, making this book attractive not only for reading but also for (repeated) viewing. By offering the youngest readers an utterly unusual visual experience, Klasja Habjan broadens the concept of what a picture book can be, and opens up the space of children’s book for new ways of artistic expression.

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Vjetrohod C

Windwalk

16,00 €

At first glance, this unusual picture book seems to be entirely dedicated to the endless diversity of winds. But in fact, it questions the ways in which people experience and describe the world. The main character of the story, Tanja the Windwalker, initially performs her job in accordance with the rules and expectations of the wind observation service. However, over time, this passionate wind lover is no longer satisfied with the ordinary language of official reports; she begins to write differently – more personally and poetically, and it takes her more time to formulate sentences. At the same time, various wind officials find it increasingly difficult to understand her… The author of the text, Igor Rajki, conjures up Tanja’s experiences in the worlds of wind and language with strange new coinages and quirky puns, while the illustrator Klasja Habjan creates an imaginative visual world in harmony with the story.

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Zasto je Bach C

Why Bach Said Ah

15,00 €

Vesna Matana Matić

Vesna Matana Matić, an experienced musician with pedagogical experience, in her playful fantasy on the subject of classical music and modern technology, conjures up the great composer surrounded by his numerous children. Children’s cries, laughter and insistent questions are the lively background against which Johann Sebastian’s works are created – until the moment when the composer calls for help from the future, so that he can work in peace. Help does indeed arrive, in the form of a little girl, Selfiene, who gives Bach’s children smartphones. A silence ensues in which no one even notices the house cat any more. But this silence is not in the least stimulating: the melodies in the composer’s head have also fallen silent… This picture book is designed so that the youngest readers can learn something about classical music in a fun way, but also to reflect on the changes that electronic devices have brought to family life. The text is accompanied by imaginative illustrations by the young artist Doria Jantolić.

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Kosjenka i Regoc naslovnica

Kosjenka and Regoč

17,00 €

One of the most popular fairy tales penned by Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, and one of those that Croatian children first encounter, is precisely the one about Regoč. However, even though the original story is entitled simply “Regoč”, the little fairy Kosjenka plays a more important role in it. Curious and lively, she sets the sluggish giant on an adventure. Cheerful when she finds company, compassionate in times of trouble, she sacrifices all her fairy magic for new friends, for children from two feuding villages near the Zlovoda lake. Although the two main characters belong to the realm of the fantastical, the story ends on a perfectly human note, with the construction of a new village. And while Regoč returns to his town of Legen, Kosjenka can no longer go back among the fairies, so she stays with the children from the village – as well as with little readers. For this silent book, visual artist Vendi Vernić told Ivana Brlić Mažuranić’s story in a purely visual language. For those who do not know the original, there is a small glossary at the beginning. Converted into pictures, the story becomes accessible to preschool readers.

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Slova za svakoga C

Letters for Everyone

15,00 €

Sanja Lovrenčić

This playful and cheerful book is perfect for those learning to read as well as for those who are helping them in this endeavor. Every of thirty very short stories – in which numerous characters, both human and animal, appear – is dominated by one single letter. This letter can be searched for, with ears or eyes, and every story can be continued. This unique spelling book invites the reader to play whereby it turns gaining reading habits into an easy and fun project.

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Umjetnost umije C

Art is Smart

18,00 €

At the heart of the new picture book by the award-winning illustrator Agata Lučić is art itself, in all its joyful forms. On the pages of this book, intended for children, but which will delight and cheer up adults as well, we will hear numerous and varied answers to the questions of what art can do, where it can be found, how we can most easily encounter it. ‘Art is Smart’ is a praise of art itself, but also a short lesson for the young ones about different kinds of artistic activity and their equal importance. The picture book is abundantly and dynamically illustrated in the author’s recognizable style, and the text flows in an unstilted poetic style, with cheerful rhymes that arouse curiosity in the reader and draw her on to an optimistic close.

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Odraz u kisi C

A Reflection in the Rain

17,00 €

Jasmina Kosanović

Jasmina Kosanović, the author of a series of interesting and well-received picture books, does not seem to know how to tell a story about rain. Instead of words, images come to her, all airy and gentle – truly rainy. But for those who like to give themselves over to their imagination, every illustration in this picture book can be the beginning of an adventure. What are those people waiting for under their umbrellas? Who does a sad man with a scarf break up with? Who is behind the windows where the drops are pouring down? Where is the sailboat sailing under an almost clear, yet still rain-soaked sky? A series of rainy scenes results in the author seeing her own self clearly, sun kissed. Those who imagine a series of their own rainy stories will perhaps find out something about themselves, once they eventually emerge from Jasmina’s dreamy, watercolour world.

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Kljucic C

The Little Key

17,00 €

Sanja Lovrenčić

Starting from a banal event – a shoe that was untied and a key found on the street – the little heroine of this picture book talks about her loved ones. For each of them, such a key could serve something, unlock something of theirs: mom’s glass showcase, dad’s mysterious drawer, a compartment with love letters in grandma’s cabinet, a friend’s special pencil case, her brother’s box with figurines of dragons and knights. With each contemplation of the key, an image from everyday life is “unlocked”. But in the end, the girl concludes that the key will best serve her and her own imagination.
The author of this story about curiosity is the acclaimed and experienced writer Sanja Lovrenčić, and the book was illustrated by Lucija Mrzljak, an award-winning artist educated in Zagreb, Prague, Krakow and Tallinn.

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U ritmu meandra s Julijem Kniferom C

Meandering with Julije Knifer

18,00 €

Sanja Lovrenčić

“Whenever I find something that I like, I want to tell a story about it” , says the narrator of this book. But she will by no means tell the story of Julije Knifer and his famous meander motif alone. The painter himself talks about anti-paintings and anti-bulbs, about the rhythms of black and white, vertical and horizontal lines, research and the search for extremes – all of this in his own words taken from original diary entries. And the illustrations inspired by his art also tell the readers about his journey towards and with meanders in their own way. In the fifth picture book of their Croatian fine art series, Sanja Lovrenčić and Dominik Vuković present the work of one of the most original and respected Croatian artists of the twentieth century, well-recognized abroad.

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Ema je sama C

Ema is Alone

16,00 €

Vanja Marković

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.

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Zaboravljene stvari C

Forgotten Things

17,00 €

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.

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Srna i Mak C

Serna and Mack in Pursuit of the Frightened Month

15,00 €

In his first prose text the young author uses patterns of traditional storytelling to speak about the contemporary problem of climate change. January disappeared, frightened by the absence of winter; a girl and a household spirit set off on a journey through the world of calendar, trying to find him and persuade him to come back. Adroitly following the spirit of the text, the illustrator uses elements from traditional book illustration, blending them with modern technique and expression.

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Sretan dan u nasem kvartu C-1

A Happy Day in Our Neighbourhood

18,00 €

Sanja Lovrenčić

The new picture book by Sanja Lovrenčić and Dominik Vuković follows the journey of a single rose. Passing from hand to hand, the red flower outlines the life of a city neighbourhood through which it is carried by various characters. The neighbourhood is a rich microworld in which chance encounters, small daily rituals and never-ending human dramas take place. The characters that the rose travels among belong to different social groups: from dog walkers, young parents, a shop assistant, a resident of a nursing home and a young artist, to marginalized people such as an elderly homeless man and a street musician. All of them, however, are connected by a simple gesture of kindness: passing the rose from one hand to another. The rose thus becomes a metaphor for the community that permeates the fabric of the city, despite the ever-present differences. Ultimately, this tender flower symbolizes the fragility of every gentle gesture – but also its beauty.

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Kozonoga C new

Goat-Foot

15,00 €

This story about a fairy is inspired by real-life experience. Its author Mirjana Mrkela speaks about loneliness and feelings of rejection, common in the lives of people who seem different from the majority. As a person who lost her sight in adulthood, the author easily sympathizes with people who are rejected or marginalized in our society for whatever reason. She tells her story as a fairy tale, drawing on certain elements from Slavic mythology. Her heroine, a fairy who, having stepped into the realm of some kind of evil old magic, becomes a goat, retreats from people who do not accept her. She hides in a mountain world of plants and animals and grieves there. But the moon and the sun are there for her, as well as for all other beings. The moon encourages her with its shine, and the sun makes her strong and calm. The pale fairy represents all those who long for understanding and acceptance. The author created the picture book in close collaboration with Katarina Radošević Galić, a Croatian illustrator and scenographer.

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