Hungarian / Hungary
Felhőmesék
(Cloud stories)
Tóth, Krisztina
(text)
Bíbor, Timkó
(illus.)
Budapest: Magvető, 2017. – [58] p.
ISBN 978-963-14-3516-0
Identity | Empathy | Self-esteem | Self-awareness | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Lili is a clever, curious, and empathic girl with a heart for everything and everyone. She is the connecting thread between these five little stories, which bring her into contact with bats and fish, with soap bubbles and elderly people. These “cloud stories” thoughtfully talk of wanting to be someone else while in fact just wanting to be oneself, of whether and when something is beautiful (always!), and of the fact that life is not infinite, but not for that reason less worth living. Krisztina Tóth’s (b. 1967) novels and poetry are known far beyond Hungary. What few of her international fans realize is that she is also very active and successful in the realm of children’s literature. In “Felhőmesék”, which was chosen in 2017 as one of the twenty-five best Hungarian children’s books, she shows her storytelling and poetic know-how. Illustrator Timkó Bíbor (b. 1977) lends the texts a further poetic note and a touch of reflectiveness with her pictures.