|
|  | |
‘Every single day things are getting done throughout the entire world. / On the streets and in the houses, / on building sites and stages, / at airports and on plantations, / in classrooms, swimming baths and factories.’
The world is full of people who are ‘doing something’ all the time. They organise, build, research, sing, run or spend their time ‘doing nothing’. Thus they make up our familiar world. Some people can make a profession of what they enjoy doing. For instance, someone who likes building can become a roofer or a joiner. Someone who enjoys singing can become a professional singer. And someone who runs exceptionally fast can earn their living as an athlete. This book is thus a kind of A-to-Z of the professions. But it is also more than that. For with its successful interplay of text and image this lovingly designed picture-book demonstrates how human beings shape their world.
Each activity is featured on a double page. The first heading, for instance, is ‘Organisieren’ (‘Organising things’), and below it is a brief explanatory text: ‘Most people work in offices. / But you can’t see what they’re really doing. / They talk on the phone and click away with their mouse, / and that’s just about all that happens right there in the office. / But it’s all go in the places they’re ringing up’. The descriptions of the various trades and professions are concise, rarely running to more than fifteen lines. Each one is accompanied by a large-scale drawing covering at least a page and showing someone carrying out the relevant activity. Thus each ‘profession’ is presented by means of a particular combination of word and image. Even the font used in the written texts was created by the illustrator, Bernd Mölck-Tassel. Each passage of text is interspersed with tiny drawings that wittily clarify and complement it. The words and their attendant images fit perfectly together. It is easy to see that author and illustrator have worked together for a long time.
Each double page spread is a detailed and lovingly designed work of art. In contrast to the lapidary narrative texts the illustrations are crammed with detail. Mölck-Tassel uses them to conjure up spaces of enormous depth containing such a plethora of figures and objects that a powerful multi-surface effect is created. As a result the illustrations are exceptionally dense and invite the reader to enter them rather like an explorer in a new-found country. And whilst they relate very closely to the words that accompany them, they also tell their own stories. Their verve and vitality reflect the book’s essential theme: the bustle of people and the world around them.
Furthermore, the language of the book is extraordinarily crisp and clear. There is no single story here with a beginning, middle and end, nor is there any dialogue. The various trades and professions are evoked in a calm, undemonstrative tone. It is this simplicity of expression that gives the language its poetic power. Dieter Böge uses repetitions and parallels to give his words a very particular rhythm, and they can be read like a succession of small poems.
These altogether original little narratives are likely to bring a smile to the face of adults in particular. The descriptions of the various jobs focus only on a few relevant aspects, but they are nonetheless both spot-on and thought-provoking: ‘Researchers are very keen to find something out, / but they can’t ask anyone / as no one knows the answer. / They have to discover the answer for themselves. / [...] / They measure everything exactly, / they write everything down, / and sometimes they discover things they hadn’t even been looking for. / America, for instance.’ This kind of delicate humour runs throughout the entire book.
However, this is not the kind of book that appeals more to parents than to children. It is responsive to the needs of its young readers, and is written specifically for them. The introductory section characteristically includes the lines ‘Obviously you can paint a picture all on your own. / But who made the brush? / And who made the paper? / How did your sketch pad get to the shop? / And who built the shop? / You could spend the entire day saying thank you / to people you don’t even know.’ Dieter Böge speaks directly to the children reading his book. He refers to the world that they are familiar with, and encourages them to think about it. It would thus no doubt be advantageous for a child to read the book with someone older who could then engage with the child’s own observations and extend the discussion into further areas of interest.
Another striking aspect of the book is the choice of activities that it deals with. It deliberately doesn’t focus on any specific professions. Its remit is much broader, namely human activity in general, for as its opening lines remark: ‘There’s nothing for it — / You’ve got to do something.’ Human activity embraces many areas: baking, building and fishing are all part of it, as are painting, acting or running. Doing a job — so the message of the book goes — is not primarily about earning money. A job is first and foremost an activity that we engage in for the purpose of spending our time — preferably in an enjoyable way. There is thus an entire double-page section in the book devoted to ‘Doing nothing’, which concludes with the unambiguous assertion that ‘Taking time out for yourself is certainly not laziness!’ This book encourages its young readers in a sensitive way to think about time, and about their own activities and those of others.
Eva Kaufmann
February 2009
[Translated by Helena Ragg-Kirkby]
|
to title overview
