Belgium


112
Herbauts, Anne (text/illus.)
La maison bleue (The blue house)
[Bruxelles] : Casterman, 2000. – [28pp]
ISBN 2-203-56501-2
Nomad - Home
A man with a suitcase has reached the end of the world. He wants to build his house and find happiness. But there are three literal mocking birds maliciously commenting his building activity. When he decorates the front with tiles, which have pictures of song-birds on them, the whole house starts flying off. Now he succeeds on the big scale where he had failed on the smaller one: He paints a house into the sky. The illustrator uses a mini-malist approach. The house is merely a cube in space. It is big when the man works on it, and small when the mockers laugh at him. Far removed in boundless blue, he is no more than a tiny figure painting the heavenly canvas at the end, unattainable and happy in his dreams. (6+)


Special Mention

113
Ramos, Mario (text/illus.)
Nuno, le petit roi (Nuno, the little king)
Paris; Bruxelles : École des Loisirs, 2000. – [36pp]
(Pastel)
ISBN 2-211-05709-8
Responsibility - Decision - Advice - Adulthood
Which child wouldn't want to have its say and make decisions like the grown-ups? The little lion prince learns what that really means. A rock has killed his father – only seemingly as it fortunately turns out – and the little one has to wear the crown and carry the responsibility for all the animals, for their problems and conflicts. But the little would-be-king can hardly look out from underneath the much too large crown, let alone advice and arbitrate. He is terribly intimidated by his helplessness and all the more relieved when his father reappears. The generous, coloured gouache illustrations give the story a droll and lighthearted touch. They reflect the restricted perspective of the royal apprentice thereby deflating the discrepancy between childlike impotence and real conflicts of decision. (4+)

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