FOREIGN RIGHTS
A group of kids from an ordinary neighborhood have been witnessing some very unusual happenings indeed. Someone has changed into a frog. Some black holes have been busy growing in someone’s socks. A mysterious man wanders around with a storm-cloud on a string. The swing comes to life, and out from Mrs. Dora’s box creeps some boredom. Could it be that behind of all of this is the old lady and her cat? Book of the year 2017 – a literary reward for the author, Katarzyna Ryrych, in a competition held by the Polish Section of the IBBY. The best book for autumn – a book reward in the youngest children category in a book readers’ poll organized on the Granice.pl website (Poland, 2017)
This guidebook gives you precise tips on how to build an angel breedery, care for the hygiene of its inhabitants, protect them from predators and diseases. In amongst this information lies the story of Marta who, however, has no angelic life. The girl’s parents work hard, but they cannot afford a place of their own, so the family lives with their aunt. One day Marta saw from her balcony someone in a neighbouring garden breeding angels. She decided to check it out, although she was not allowed to go so far alone.
Josie Strife is almost 11 years old and has a lot of problems in life: her parents don’t get on, her best friend is moving out, and her grades aren’t exactly impressive. As if that wasn’t enough, the girls didn’t make the team for the school football tournament. Can it get any worse? As it turns out, yes. Josie’s great-great-grandmother had written in her diary that she could not study painting as she had dreamed, because she was … a woman!Josie won’t just look on as her life falls apart.Together with her friend Angie, she comes up with a plan.
Jonathan and Luke are in the same class, but they don’t like each other. They will be brought together by a book they read and a proposal from Ronnie the Raven. This will help them sort out their problems. But at what price? The boys don’t think too much about that. All the more so because some amazing adventures await them, sometimes dreadful and sometimes funny. There’s fun to be had when aliens land outside and decide to go to school. The Kingdom of Crunch with its master and dungeons is just plain awful. Will the boys come to realise what is really important in life? The text is accompanied by colourful illustrations by Marcin Minor, which wonderfully reflect the spirit of this story.
Will Snowflake find happiness and not hurt her parents? Where did the strange woman in a beautiful dress take the sick girl? How did the two talking cats help the golden shoes find their way back to their owner? What did Kate find behind the old bookshelf and what is the queen scared to death of? You’ll find all the answers in these fairy tales. The book contains five contemporary stories that also make reference to famous fairy tales or fairytale themes. The narrators are houses and items of furniture. Extraordinary beings suddenly appear among ordinary people. A dark and mysterious atmosphere prevails. The author does not follow well-trodden paths, but forges new ones instead. She does not always fully explain what is happening. She treats the young reader as seriously as an adult. Her literature gives food for thought rather than the usual bland fare. Krystyna Chołoniewska, in addition to her books, also writes television and radio dramas as well as theatre plays for children and teenagers.
The ”brainteasers” series features tasks to develop a child’s spatial imagination. In order to solve the tasks from part 3 (age 10+) some awareness of geometry is an advantage. All six books can be recommended as fun to make you think, whether at home, in the waiting room, or during a trip. However, they can also be used successfully at school, during the lesson or in a mathematics club.