Greek / Greece
Leschē allokotōn plasmatōn. Otan ērthan gia emena
(The special beings club. When they came for me)
Panagiōtakēs, Giōrgos K.
(Panagiotakis, Giorgos K.)
(text)
Delēboria, Myrtō
(Delivoria, Myrto)
(illus.)
Athēna: Patakēs (Patakis), [2017]. – 166 p.
(Series: Leschē allokotōn plasmatōn; 2)
ISBN 978-960-16-7743-9
Racism | Media | Disinformation | Blackmail | Outsider
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Students and teachers at the “Krakatoa” school speak with plants, move like cats, are fluorescent, clone themselves, shrink, lift off when they are happy, and bring rain when they are angry. One day, their lives become visible to everyone on the Internet. Kruger, the chairman of a political party, tries to blackmail them, demanding they use their special powers to do his bidding. Or else, he threatens, he will blame them for the social and economic woes of society in his party’s publications, as he has done with other outsiders. The children resist; Kruger himself is in the process revealed to be a “special being”. Told with wit and suspense, with subversive allusions to reality and accompanied by Myrto Delivoria’s poetic-allegorical illustrations, Giorgos Panagiotakis’s book sensitizes readers against racism, fake news, and Internet obsession and promotes respect and integration. The novel received the youth literature award from the magazine “O Anagnostis” in 2018.