Polish / Poland
Brzuchem do góry
(Belly up)
Palusińska, Urszula
(text/illus.)
Warszawa: Dwie Siostry, 2017. – [59] p.
ISBN 978-83-65341-23-5
Seeing | Perspective | Verticality | Lying down | Idleness | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2018
A simple idea makes this book so fascinating: all scenes are shown twice, but from contrasting perspectives. Illustrator Urszula Palusińska (b. 1984), past recipient of the Bologna Ragazzi Award, shows protagonists lying on their backs, gazing upwards, in the grass, in the forest, in bed, and in many other places. At first, readers look down at the characters from a bird’s eye view. As they turn the page, the perspective changes: now they see the same scene from the viewpoint of the character lying down, looking upward into the sky, the tree canopy, or the rafters. The short, wonderful text reveals that each protagonist is busy with something: the carpenter is repairing the roof, the neighbour is going shopping, the aunt is cooking lunch. But in that moment, they are all looking up, enjoying an idle spell. “Brzuchem do góry” was picture book of the year in Poland in 2017.