Contents
Doctor Animals, Time to Sleep, Jesse!, Egghead, Chick and Bricky. Super-duper-scooter”: a new selection of books for children and their parents from the book reviewer Elena Pestereva.
“Chick and Bricky. Super duper scooter by Axel Scheffler
Children will learn about how to support a friend in an awkward situation, about jealousy, embarrassment and other difficult feelings from a new series of books by artist Axel Scheffler about Chika the hare and Brika the mouse. “Super Duper Scooter” is the fifth story where Bricky wants to ride the scooter so badly that he takes it away from Chick. A good reason to learn to ask, refuse and apologize.
Translation from English by Maria Torchinskaya. Clover, 32 p.
“Time to sleep, Jesse!” Libby Gleason, Freya Blackwood
One-year-old Jessie’s parents put her to sleep in the nursery for the first time. Jessie is against: she cries, throws bears and pillows. And the older sister is not happy: who wants to listen to a child’s cry at night? But the solution, in which the parents can be together and everyone in the house will be fine, will be found if, instead of anger and condemnation, a little tenderness is shown.
Translation from English by Natalia Vlasova. Polyandria, 32 p.
Doctor Animals by Angie Trius, Mark Doran
The book has brilliant authors: Cambridge professor, neurologist and chemist Mark Doran, veterinarian Angie Trius, and illustrator Julio Antonio Blasco, thanks to which the stories are framed as prescription sheets from the attending physician. In fact, animals are just like humans: blue jays use formic acid as an antiseptic, rhinos protect their skin from ultraviolet rays, tegu lizards eat jatropha grass as an antidote for snake bites. The book will especially appeal to those who like to play doctor and treat the “sick”.
Translation from English by Anna Vasilyeva. Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 62 p.
Marie-From the Witch «The Wise Man»
The story was not immediately captivating, but then it turned out that he was very cool. The smart guy is 22 years old, but he is mentally retarded and has the mind of a three-year-old child. He always interfered with his brother Kleber and his friends, but did not understand this. And Egghead talked only with his toy, plush Monsieur Crocroll. It was his only friend. Have you seen the movie Forrest Gump? He is also about a mentally retarded person, but at the end of the film society accepts him. At first, not everyone was happy with the smart guy, but then they got used to it and everyone fell in love with it. Even in the middle of the book it seemed to me that he would be cured, and I wanted this. It didn’t work out that way, although by the end Egghead still wised up and matured.
I was hooked by the phrase at the very end of the book. It so happened that the rabbit was thrown into the trash, and, trying to console Egghead, the guys said that he had died. Then he was found. So, Egghead asked his toy: “Are you going to die?” And the rabbit replied: “No, it is not necessary!” This is really a strong phrase, philosophical: it is important for me that it is not necessary to die. The choice to die or not is not only for toys, for everyone.”
Translation from French by Natalia Mavlevich. Scooter, 248 p.