Greek / Greece
To pulober
(The pullover)
Mpaslam, Dēmētrēs
(Baslam, Dimitris)
(text)
Charalampus, Chrysō
(Charalambous, Chryso)
(illus.)
Athēna: Kaleidoskopio (Kaleidoscope Publ.), 2019. – 48 p.
ISBN 978-960-471-194-9
Introversion | Isolation | Communication | Trust | Clothing | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2020
A boy loves his thick, warm pullover so much that he believes to always need it, even when the sun is shining, or when it impedes him while playing. Like an armour, it protects him and at the same time isolates him from others – until one day the boy makes a friend. She discovers a loose wool thread on the pullover, and he lets her gradually unravel it and knit new things with it, which they offer as gifts to other people. In the end, the boy feels utterly liberated. He only holds on to a cuddly wool blanket in case he’s ever cold. Dimitris Baslam’s allegorical story accurately describes how the walls around the introverted child are transformed into building blocks that produce connection to and trust in other people. Emerging Cyprian illustrator Chryso Charalambous creates optimistic pictures in saturated, bright colours to accompany the text. “To pulober” was on the picture book shortlist of the magazine “O anagnostis” in 2020. [TA]