Little Jure’s Running Thoughts
10,00 €A collection of poems by a multimedia artist Nikolina Manojlović Vračar, inspired by everyday life of today’s children.
For school-age children (5.8 years)
Tales from the Land of Baobabs
10,00 €A selection of six Tanzanian stories for children, translated from Swahili; mostly animal stories, they deal with a wide range of topics, from ethical questions to the ecological problems of today’s Africa.
Emilija’s Very Extraordinary Adventure
10,00 €Emilija the sheep, Pika Vončina’s calm and pleasantly modest children’s book character, is well-loved in Croatia. The present volume, whose title promises an “Adventure”, is not concerned with a dangerous quest, though Emilija does fly with the wind and dive with the fish. Rather, the little sheep becomes acquainted with the elements, and learns about the special nature of the air, earth, water, and even the stars. This happy dream journey is narrated in a laconic style. Vončina’s characteristic whimsical typography and word play further add to this gentle little picture book, whose plot end where it began: as a good-night-story on the pillow (Age: 4+)
Fairy Tale of Shallow Waters
10,00 €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.
4 Tales from the Country of Rabbits
10,00 €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.
The Pursuit of Winter
10,00 €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
How Wang-Fo Was Saved
10,00 €How Wang-Fo Was Saved is one of a very few texts for children written by the great French novelist Marguerite Yourcenar, here translated into Croatian for the first time. In her story, inspired by a Chinese legend, with a master painter as the main protagonist, Yourcenar is posing fundamental questions about humanity and art in a simple, yet striking manner. Searching for the aesthetic pleasure the perfect master Wang-Fo discards the material world and its acclaim. However, an encounter with the Emperor reminds him that works of art are always about the world and part of the world – even if they eventually succeed in becoming a world in their own right and a sort of sanctuary.
Age 12+
The Fox Sings in A Lovely Way
10,00 €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
Gvalup and Other Stories
10,00 €A girl riding a hare, a boy taking off to an adventure with a walking carob tree, a barge that riots against its crew, a little fawn adopted in an elfish family, a statue that decides to live near a pond, a star that falls from the sky before its time – Tamara Bakran’s stories are as varied as are her heroes. Little episodes from the everyday life of a child suddenly take a fantastic turn – a little girl crying that the water for her hair wash is too hot may summon a fire brigade, and a jump into a puddle may lead into a fairyland. The originality and merry rhythm of these stories catch the reader’s attention and offer the kind of pleasure that is the basic prerequisite for creation of a lasting interest in books and reading.
Age: 6-9
The Crocodiles (and Know-It-All Bird)
10,00 €Pika Vonična, one of Little Bells’ most productive picture book authors, is working on a series of picture books about animals since 2012. The four stories assembled in Crocodiles proved as particularly appealing to young readers: the endearing Jaroslav who shies water because he cannot swim, Strahimir who makes paper birds and looses them when the wind blows, Florian who is, unlike other crocodiles, never green, but changes colours from blue to white and red, provoke interest and compassion in the young reader. But in these stories everything ends well, and illustrations offer a lot to look at, even when the story is over.
Age: 4-7
Hilda’s Return to the Henhouse
10,00 €Hilda’s Return to the Henhouse, is a sequel to The Voyage of Aunt Hilda. On a very dark night the travelling chicken finally comes home, and has to answer all sorts of questions about her journey. But the henhause is not exactly the same as it was when she left: the spirit of adventure, however modest, entered the minds of her chicken friends…
Age:4-6
A Story about a Rabbit
11,00 €A Story about a Rabbit is one of the very few literary texts for children written by the famous German avant-garde artist Kurt Schwitters. In this playful short tale, the rabbit (who keeps on hopping around the corner even when there is no corner around) goes through a series of metamorphoses: he becomes a bird, a fish, a pig, a hippopotamus, a fly, and even a steamship. In this way, the author shows the road to maturity as a process of role playing; at the same time he explores the possibilities of one of the oldest motives of western art: the metamorphosis as a fundamental premise of artistic creation. Although able to provoke a grown-up reader to serious thought, Schwitters’ story, with its quick pace and fine humour, stays light and accessible to the youngest audience.
Age 4-7
Silly but Safe
12,00 €Silly but Safe, a comic book of „practical tales“ for children, written and illustrated by Croatian artist Ivan Tudek, offers to the reader a handful of funny and edifying stories about friendship, mutual understanding and tolerance. The comic book format allowed Tudek to portrait human problems in dynamic and funny short cuts, and to develop a peculiar sort of goofiness through the visual aspect of his characters.
Age: 4-6
Blue Town, Yellow Town
12,00 €Two towns on the two sides of a river – and an old bridge between them. When the bridge has to be repaired and repainted the citizens of the Blue Town want it to be blue, those from the Yellow Town want it to be yellow. There starts a peculiar quarrel, and develops out of proportion to its initial motive… until the day when the nature intervenes and reminds the citizens of both towns of the beauty of the multicoloured world.
(first edition : Alice Jeunesse, Belgium
White Ravens 2017)
Three Travellers
12,00 €A double debut: the renowned poet first time writing for children, a young artist first time illustrating a picture book. They tell a fairy tale about three brothers set to find a better place than their own, with subtle political subtext (there is a dragon at home who has to be dealt with). The illustrator finds original equivalents for all dimensions of the text, and manages even to imbed some citations from XX century art (Matisse, Hokney), thus enlarging the visual world of youngest readers.
Book #3346
Why do Meerkats Look at the Sky?
12,00 €Pepe is a very curious meerkat. He knew the animals and the plants, and everything that surrounded him and was within his reach, but it was not enough.
One day the Earth seemed too small for his great curiosity and a new world opened for him when he looked up at the sky.
The author tells us in this first book of the saga of Pepe, the meerkat, a tender story about the enigmatic universe of which we are all part.