Norway
176
Stark, Ulf (text)
Bondestam, Linda (illus.)
Diktatorn (The dictator)
Helsingfors: Söderströms, 2010. – [36] p.
ISBN 978-52-2745-4
Kindergarten – Hubris – Role playing
Everyone knows that kindergartners can seem like dictators: their blown-up
fantasies of powerfulness turn them into emperors. So, too, the boy in this
book, who, wearing a green hat with a red star on his head (a conniving
prankster), lets the sun shine, or graciously receives sandwiches. But when
he looks into Sirkka’s blueberry blue eyes, he becomes very gentle; she on
the other hand would rather play with a monkey than with him. So the
dictator decides to go as a chimpanzee the next day: The distance from
tyrant to primate is not great... This Swedish-Finnish co-production by old
master Ulf Stark and the young illustrator Linda Bondestam delights with
clever humour and collages reminiscent of the work of Gunilla Bergström and
Lasse Sandberg. (Age: 4+)