Hungarian / Hungary
Anup és a csodálatos tűzhely
(Anup and the marvellous stove)
Vajda, Éva
(text)
Bodonyi, Panni
(illus.)
[Budapest]: Móra Könyvkiadó, [2016]. – [28] p.
ISBN 978-963-415-295-8
Child labour | Poverty | Industriousness | Tenacity | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2017
The story of Anup from Kerala, India, captures the lives of many: As a child in a large family, the boy grows up in humble circumstances, having to sleep on the roof of his parents’ hut, for instance, because there is no room inside. In order to support his family – in this case, his grandmother –, Anup begins working. The money trickles in very slowly, he is robbed, but remains persistent. In the end, he acquires the oven much wished for by his grandmother. Éva Vajda and Panni Bodonyi take on the topic of child labour and poverty in a clear and direct way, using pictures that are not overly impassioned: They show but don’t judge. Anup’s story was first developed as an app and was Panni Bodonyi’s final project at the Danish School of Design. Fortunately, the picture book also came about. It made the list of the twenty-five best children’s books to appear in Hungary in 2016.