This gorgeous, artistic book in the form of a concertina connects a story about abstract concepts with a reflection about the values and emotions that are very important to us.
The author has chosen “Thought” as its protagonist, which then turns into “Idea”… It’s quite an unusual protagonist in a children’s book, but one that nonetheless absolutely makes sense to them. The personified Idea talks about how good it is to feel the warmth of somebody’s hands, share an orange, or get wet in the rain with somebody. She talks about fun, about tickles… Everything that is important to children. She also draws attention to the complexity of relationships, and that being close to somebody also means challenging emotions. In spite of this, the author emphasises that “people need other people”, “because they are like two drops of water. If they are apart they remain drops, but together they can become an ocean”. It’s not just a book about emotional wellbeing. You can feel in it the strength of fellowship. It inspires us to reflect on what is necessary for our dreams to become actions, and finally reality. It could be said that the presence of books like The Idea in the hands of young readers are essential for this.
Agnieszka Karp-Szymańska, translated by David French
