Slovenian / Slovenia
Kje si?
(Where are you?)
Bartolj, Marta
(illus.)
Dob: Miš, 2018. – [64] p.
ISBN 978-961-272-282-1
Empathy | Mindfulness | Helpfulness | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2019
The guardian of a lost dog asks, “Where are you?” and posts flyers of her pet around the city. Then she spots a street musician and gives him some food – an apple. This is seen by a man walking through the park. Readers follow him and see that he is collecting discarded cans. Over the course of her story in pictures, Marta Bartolj (b. 1979) links many more people and their small empathic gestures, revealing an everyday life in which people mindfully live together. The colour red is the binding element between the scenes. Red defines many reappearing pictorial elements throughout this chain story and entices readers to peruse the pictures again. Conceived to be the practical component of Bartolj’s final project at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubjlana, “Kje si?” received special mention at the Kristina Brenkova Award for Slovenian picture book art in 2018.