Finland
181
Kunnas, Mauri (text/illus.)
Kunnas, Tarja (text)
Viikingit tulevat! (The Vikings are coming!)
Helsingissä : Otava, 2006. – 51 p.
978-951-1-21211-9
Vikings/History
This introduction to the culture and history of the Vikings, loosely based on reports from old sagas, is presented in Mauri Kunnas’s characteristic, witty style. Once again, the author chooses dogs as his main protagonists. This time, they pillage an English monastery, cut runes into stones, and dis-cover Greenland and America. To illustrate the term »berserkergang« (incontrollable fury in battle) however, a pig serves as the »victim«. Unlike some other non-fictional comic book adaptations, Kunnas’s books never pretend to offer comprehensive knowledge about a topic. On the contrary, just like the famous Finnish caricaturist’s books about literary classics or historical topics, his new work again whets the readers’ appetite to search for more information elsewhere. (10+)
182
Pispa, Kaija (text)
Warsta, Elina (illus.)
Kärpäslätkää (Fly swatter)
Helsinki : Söderström, 2006. – 111 p.
ISBN 978-951-0-31709-9
Children’s poetry
This collection of poems presents the world from an animal perspective. Imbued with a dose of bizarre humour and funny puns, the book tackles mainly human problems with the help of various animals. A bug, for example, that is fed up with its country life, leaves its family and moves to the city, while a city bug that longs to dwell in the countryside, meets the family left behind by its cousin and lives with them happily ever after. A French cow who feels devastated because of her messy hairstyle is comforted when a Finnish bull simply puts a flower into her hair. The black-and-white illustrations surrounding the texts in a witty and graphically attractive way perfectly complement the poems’ style. The brightly coloured book cover serves as a wonderful visual contrast. (10+)
183
Vuori, Suna (text)
Kirkkopelto, Katri (illus.)
Hirmuista koulupäivää, hirviö (Have a terrible school day, monster!)
Helsinki : Söderström, 2006. – 55 p.
ISBN 978-951-0-32117-1
Monster – School – First day at school – Fear – Friendship
Little Monster needs to learn how to roar, bare his teeth, and bite. Yet he is terribly afraid of his first day at school because he fears he might get the worst mark in all subjects and not find any friends. In the end, however, it’s no big deal. True, the local monster children are utterly surprised to see that one of their new classmates has neither claws nor horns, but they immediately stop teasing him when they realise he can breathe fire instead. Little Monster befriends this stranger and finally even turns vegetarian like him. The large format of the amusing picture book and the generous design allow the illustrator’s fantastic creatures to spread out and confidently hover above the text. (6+)