The White Ravens Database

Presented by   Internationale Jugendbibliothek / International Youth Library

Estonian / Estonia

Ei ole nii!

(No! This is not so!)

Sillaste, Kertu (text/illus.)
Tallinn: Päike ja Pilv, 2015. – [49] p.
ISBN 978-9949-9720-2-9

Perception  | Imagination  | Truth  | Picture book

Reading age: 3+

White Ravens issue: 2016

OPAC

The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre heralded the picture book “Ei ole nii!” (No! This is not so!) as “Raisin of the Year” in 2015. And rightly so: Kertu Sillaste (b. 1973), with her comic-art style, has blossomed in recent years into one of the most successful Estonian illustrators. This playful book is about the truth of assertions, the reliability and subjectivity of perception and about how much can seem true using the power of the imagination. In the story, a little rabbit rejects the reality of anything that displeases him or that he is afraid of. He successfully navigates the dangerous forest by simply “denying away” the mean wolf and foxes. He survives the cold winter saying “No, it’s not cold!” and is happy when spring arrives, because his statement is finally true. Kertu Sillaste brings things in picture and text to the point: Rabbits always make it work!