The children's book Mato ja meri, written and illustrated by Jenni Erkintalo and published by Etana Editions (2019), has been selected to the acclaimed The White Ravens 2019 catalogue.
Presentation of the book The Worm and the Sea in The White Ravens 2019 catalogue:
The worm climbs the rock and looks longingly at the sea with a cheerful sailor's cap on his head. He notices that the waves have brought mail in a bottle to the shore asking for help! Mato heads straight for the sea, first in a rubber boat, then in a motorboat and finally in a big yacht. He always changes his boat to a bigger and faster one, and under the spell of speed, he doesn't even remember why he went to sea in the first place. Higher, faster, further! The speed-blind Mato only stops when it comes across fish that have sent a request for help - fish need help to express their opinion against speeding boats. With its colorful illustrations, retro aesthetic and 'earthworm' hero, The Worm and the Sea raises awareness of the need to protect the environment and offers an alternative critique of capitalism.
The White Ravens Catalogue of book recommendations in the field of international children's and youth literature is published annually by the Internationale Jugendbibliothek (International Youth Library).
Altogether 200 titles in more than 35 languages from nearly 60 countries were selected for this year's The White Ravens catalogue, which will be published at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 17, 2019.
Short reviews of all 200 books will also be available in the new White Ravens database at the website http://whiteravens.ijb.de/list.
Furthermore, all the 200 White Ravens books will be exhibited at the International Youth Library's stand at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair in spring 2020.