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Awards: Book of the Year 2023 Graphic Distinction (Polish Section of IBBY)
Awards: - Year
- 2023
- Pages
- 64
- ISBN
- 978-83-965236-9-3
A parent suffering from alcoholism is a very challenging – and practically non-existent – theme in Polish children’s books. Artur Gębka describes in a simple, convincing and at once remarkably vivid way how this disease gradually destroys family life.
But also how vital are the vigilance of the community, neighbourly sensitivity, hope and a readiness to be helped. The narrator is an attentive but sensitive observer. They have turned the causative factor – the bottle – into the story’s protagonist. It grows, while little Wojtek’s father shrinks, metaphorically vanishing inside it. Agata Dudek portrays the story wonderfully in her illustrations, as bottle green spreads over successive scenes. The dynamic illustrations, making use of multiplication and various perspectives, show us the alcoholic’s gradually disintegrating world.
Anita Wincencjusz-Patyna, translated by David French
