CURIOUS QUESTIONS TO START THE YEAR
Two new children’s books tackle the issue of our existence on this planet
The start of a new year is a perfect time to look at a couple of picture books that raise the kind of existentialist questions children begin asking themselves when they’re five or six years old.
Why Am I Here? (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 32 pages, $22), by Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen, was originally published in Norwegian. It was translated into English by Becky Crook, and raises more than just its titular question.
Beautifully illustrated in pastel and coloured pencil by Turkish Norwegian author/illustrator Akin Duzakin, it opens with a statement any five-year-old can relate to: “I wonder why I am here, / in this exact place.” The accompanying art shows a tiny figure perched on top of a large grey rock in the middle of a calm, blue sea. A small brown rowboat is tethered to the rock and turns out to be the mode of transportation that carries our wanderer through a series of scenarios as he (or she) considers life and its possibilities. (Duzakin has given the child a somewhat androgynous look; any boy or girl should be able to identify with him/ her.)
The questions are not always easy ones (“What if there were a war going on where I lived, / and I had to hide until it was safe to come out?”) and the possibilities raised by those questions can be unsettling. There are references to children who live alone, children who have to move frequently, children engaged in hard labour and children who live through natural disasters. But there is also the idea of finding safe haven (in our hero’s case, accompanied by the ringtailed lemur rescued during one of the imaginary scenarios) and having the time to think about all the possibilities, exploring what it is that makes each of us an individual.
“Why am I me, and not someone else?” the child asks at the end of the book. “And why am I here?” The answer he/she finally comes up with is both comforting and empowering.
A lovely book, aimed at ages five to nine, that should be read by all ages.
The Liszts (Tundra Books, 40 pages, $21.99), by Toronto’s Kyo Maclear and illustrated by Barcelona’s Júlia Sardà, poses its own share of questions, but does so in a much different fashion. For one thing, instead of revolving around one small child, this picture book gives us six distinct personalities (seven if you count the cat), all of whom make detailed lists of things. Sardà’s stylized, detailed and tongue-incheek illustrations do a great job of capturing the family’s quirky and self-involved busyness.
Not until an unexpected visitor arrives do they show an inclination to question anything, let alone their existence. But that visitor soon finds a kindred spirit in Edward, the middle child, who designs his lists “to quiet the swirl of his midnight mind.”
When he and the visitor meet, they’re a bit shy at first, but then discover each has an inquiring mind. “Where do we come from?” the visitor begins. “How do I know my life is not a dream?”
Five rambling questions later, Edward offers some of his own: “Does anyone own the moon or the sky? … Why do I have two eyes if I only see one thing?”
In the end, the visitor becomes a vital part of the family. Their list-making continues, but now each member leaves space at the bottom — “just in case something unexpected comes up.” For ages five to nine.