Danish / Denmark
En prik og en streg. Godnateventyr til at tegne på ryggen
(A dot and a line. Bedtime stories that one can draw on one’s back)
Hegnhøj, Mette
(text)
København: Jensen & Dalgaard, [2017]. – [36] p.
ISBN 978-87-7151-322-6
Bedtime story | Fingerplay | Picture book
Reading age: 2+
White Ravens issue: 2019
“Det var engang en prik og en streg. / Men det var løgn. / Prikken var i virkeligheden Streg, / der havde rullet sig sammen. / Og stregen var i virkeligheden Prik, / der havde rullet sig ud.” (There once were a dot and a line. / But that was a lie. / Dot was really Line, / having rolled itself up. / And Line was really Dot, / having unrolled itself.) The simple geometric shapes of Dot and Line are the protagonists in Mette Hegnhøj’s short bedtime stories. One can well imagine Das and Mum cuddling with their child in bed, fingerplaying the story as they read: a poke with their index finger means “Dot”, a score with the middle finger means “Line”. Listeners may then contemplate why and how a line becomes a dot and vice versa, an activity which may run counter to the aim of falling asleep. The Danish publisher Jensen & Dalgaard publish unusual books, bedtime stories that encourage hands-on interaction between book, reading adult, and child.