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Blumka’s Diary. On living in Janusz Korczak’s Orphanage. Written and illustrated by Iwona Chmielewska
Rights sold: Hebrew, Korean, Polish
Warsaw, Krochmalna Street 92, Orphanage for Jewish Children.
Once upon a time Blumka lived here, together with … Dr. Korczak, Mrs. Stefa and 200 children:
Zygmuś, who saved the life of a silvery fish, Reginka, whose stories brightened up even the darkest night, Pola, who thought her ear was the right place to make a pea sprout, Chaim, who was taken to court by the ants, the tiny Pebble, who helped to unload the coal truck with his chamber pot, and Penny the mouse, for whom the bread-crumbs came out of the blue …
Blumka wrote all this down in her diary and if words failed her, she made a drawing. Until the day when the war broke out.
Her diary is not thick but a thick book – at least in Dr. Korczak’s opinion – ”does not necessarily give you a lot of knowledge, whereas a thin one sometimes does“.
Blumka’s Diary not only gives the reader knowledge about life in an orphanage but also about Janusz Korczak’s educational methods. In short: How to love a child.
Iwona Chmielewska leads us through this world on tiptoe, deeply concerned not to scare away what is concealed by the gestures of everyday life. In words and pictures, she masterly interweaves fact and fiction, with the aim of giving a face to all those children whose tragic destiny is commemorated by a plain epitaph, chiselled in granite.
Recommended by the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews
Awarded by the IBBY Poland as:
“Book of the Year 2011″ in the category “Picture Book”
Honorary Mention in the category “Literature”
Adam Jaromir (Author), Gabriela Cichowska (Illustrator), Fantje, First release: 2010, All rights available.
An elephant girl, tiny, white and someway different,
questing to find her place in the world,
a cosy porcelain shop, somewhere in Europe,
and miles and miles of journey inbetween.
“Mr. Captain, one ticket please!”, she asked politely. – “Where is my lil friend going to?“ – “I don’t know either. Five little nuts – that’s all I have.” – “ Here you are!“, said Mr. Captain with a smile. “Amsterdam for one nut. That’s our special price for pupils.“
This book was co-edited by the Polish publishing house Muchomor.
Fantje received an Honourable Mention at the BOLOGNA RAGAZZI AWARD 2011.
What the Jury said: Sustained by masterly graphic technique that has tapped into a wealth of cultures, the book tells its story as a child would: ready to take everything on board and assign it a place in a sort of “Dawn of Creation”. Behind this light-hearted approach, however, lies the more serious attempt to rekindle and renew the age-old animal fables from Phaedrus and Aesop to La Fontaine. The stories also celebrate the city as seen through a child’s eyes: a graphic invention of multiple lines and intersections, bridges, trains and roads. The book is a light-hearted but serious tribute to the mystery of childhood perception in those years when everything is larger or smaller than life. It is as if, imbued with a sense of sheer happiness, the two artists had Gulliver by their side to show them the way.
Further awards:
White Raven 2010, bestowed by the International Youth Library in Munich
Honourable Mention by the Polish Association of Publishers PTWK, as one of the most beautiful children’s books of the year 2010
Added to the Honour List of the Museum of Children’s Books, Warsaw
Nominated for the “Book of the Year 2011″, IBBY Poland
Adam Jaromir (Author), Pawel Pawlak (Illustrator), Zarafa, First release: 2009, Rights sold: Polish.
“You’ll see, that beast will smash our chandelier!” − “Hardly likely”, returned the beast in a huff and climbed without thinking, elegantly, with one single stride over the table. “So, here we are. In Paris.” − “Good evening, Madame …” − “Madame Zarafa. My name is Zarafa. To be exact − Zarafa Camelia Leopardia.”
July 1827. King Charles X., his court, moreover the whole of Paris is upside down. Another revolution? No, not at all! It’s ZARAFA, a cheeky “camelopard” that left the highlands of Ethiopia to enchant half of France with its witty stories.
This African Sheherazade, bubbling over with imagination, knows how to bring fresh air into the dusty chambers. But the aim of her tale, a colourful account of her odyssey, is not to amuse, but to save another life …
For his Zarafa, Adam Jaromir was given an Honorable Mention by the Polish section of IBBY.
