Norwegian / Norway
En skrue løs
(A screw loose)
Markhus, Rune
(illus.)
[Oslo]: Gyldendal, [2016]. – [36] p.
ISBN 978-82-05-49307-0
Forest | Mushroom | Screw | Picture book | Wordless book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2017
In 2016, the publishing house Gyldendal started a new series of wordless picture books, which continues in 2017 with titles such as “En skrue løs”. A little man is gathering mushrooms in the woods. He is ecstatic, when he spots a large mushroom-like object sparkling in the clearing. No doubt, this mushroom must be taken home! Yet while the manikin is huffing and puffing, the reader notices a huge robot who obviously misses something tiny but important, i.e. a glittering, mushroom- or rather screw-like thing… Without any words, this book tells a wonderful tale. It combines typical fairy-tale motifs with sci-fi characters in a comic-like style rendered in a seemingly dated palette of shades of brown. What makes the book even more special are the various visual possibilities that Markhus exploits masterfully, such as change of perspectives and picture-within-a-picture. Thus, he manages to have both storylines run together, in parallel, or against one another. This creates both a double arc of suspense and some dramatic irony.