Dutch / Netherlands
Konijnentango
(Rabbit tango)
Remmerts de Vries, Daan
(text)
Schubert, Dieter
(illus.)
Schubert, Ingrid
(illus.)
[Hoorn]: Hoogland & Van Klaveren, [2017]. – [30] p.
ISBN 978-90-8967-221-6
Rabbit | Dancing | Love | Wordless book | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2018
By the waterside at night, a rabbit awaits her boyfriend on the bank of a lake. She spots him in the distance, and when he arrives they embrace and kiss. Dancing, hopping, and playing, they greet the sunrise. The rabbits’ movements are reflected on the smooth surface of the water. Looking carefully, though, one sees that the images in the water are not the same as the movements on land: they tell the same story, but from the perspective of the male rabbit. The sophisticated construction of this wordless picture book is based on the literary principle of telling the same story twice from alternate perspectives, leaving readers to interpret all that happens. Once through, you can turn the book and ‘read’ the story once again. There are also two covers to this picture book. The colourful illustrations in water-colour, coloured pencil and pastel are artful and charming. Particularly great is the way in which the illustrations alternate colour spectrums to imply the time of day, the light of the sun or the moon.