Norwegian / Norway
Hun som kalles søster
(The one who is called sister)
Nyhus, Kaia Dahle
(text/illus.)
[Oslo]: Cappelen Damm, 2016. – [44] p
ISBN 978-82-02-52012-0
Siblings | Admiration | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2017
The majority of sibling books are told from the point of view of the “older ones” and tackle dethroning-fears and -traumas. “Hun som kalles søster” turns the tables on the familiar narrative. In this book, it is the younger sister, who tries to come to grips with the big one; because first and foremost, she is an unknown entity. She lives behind a door through which the younger one has never entered yet. She vanishes into the bathroom for hours – what on earth is she doing there? She gets money for babysitting her sister, but is grumpy nevertheless. In a mixture of awe, curiosity, and puzzlement, the little one approaches the big one – slowly, slowly. Kaia Dahle Nyhus presents the “sister phantom” in headstrong illustrations in brown, cream, black, and white, and describes her in a tone that perfectly gets across how the little protagonist’s feelings for the mysterious creature called sister oscillate between admiration and astonishment.