Slovenian / Slovenia
Tu blizu živi deklica
(The girl who lives nearby)
Mlakar Črnič, Ida
(text)
Škerl, Peter
(illus.)
Ljubljana: KUD Sodobnost International, 2019. – 24 p
(Series: Gugalnica. Zbirka najboljših slikanic)
ISBN 978-961-7047-22-6
Xenophobia | Exclusion | Prejudice | Alien image | Refugee | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2019
This book is like a diary with monthly entries that span a year. In it, two girls set down their observations of a third girl who is different from them. Not as pretty. Without a name (or at least the girls have forgotten it). Not a princess (like they are). Practically invisible, without a home of her own. In September the girl disappears, only a few drawings are left behind. When the two girls find the pictures, they realize that the girl was actually just like them and perhaps could have been their friend. Told entirely from the perspective of the two girls, the rhythmic text shows how easy it is to embrace prejudices and stereotypical views of strangers and to ostracize others. For this touching story, Peter Škerl (b. 1973) offers pictures in muted tones to portray the foreign girl and her family as newly arrived refugees. Text and image join together to form a strong statement against xenophobia and discrimination.