Serbian / Serbia
Babaroga
(The bogey woman)
Živanović, Jelena
(text)
Kuzmanović, Boris
(illus.)
Beograd: Kreativni centar, [2021]. – 39 p.
ISBN 978-86-529-0937-7
Monster | Night | Fear | Friendship | Emotion | Picture book
Reading age: 3+
White Ravens issue: 2022
Jelena Živanović’s literary debut is a blend of playfulness and imagination. It shows how imagination can turn a scary creature into a friend and protector, cause colours to change, and even invent all sorts of things. One just needs to open his or her heart and let imagination take over, in order to make one’s world a better place. »Babaroga« tells the story of a little girl drawing a bogey woman who is not terrifying at all. She is fluorescent green, has beautiful eyes and eyelashes, and smiles all the time. She loves to read and play at night, to fix toys and eat chocolates. But more than anything else in the world, she loves the little girl who has drawn her. This picture book is special in many ways, and Boris Kuzmanović’s illustrations give it a perfect touch of quirkiness. It defies the traditional picture book style found on the rather conservative Serbian children’s book market, representing instead a new atmosphere and sensitivity, a modern touch to picture books created for coming generations. [DS]