Children's Books

Vitali Konstantinov Wenn nicht die Menschen
[What if humans hadn’t done it…]

Book cover What if humans hadn’t done it…

Publisher's Summary

Kunstanstifter Verlag
 Mannheim 2026
ISBN 978-3-948743-22-2
54 Pages
Publisher’s contact details

Translation Grant Programme
Polish rights already sold.

Sample translations

Not people, but animals: an alternative history of evolution

This non-fiction book (intended for adults as well as children!) is an intellectual experiment as astonishing as it is impressive: what if at some point in the history  of planet Earth things had taken a different turn? If other creatures rather than human beings – such as dinosaurs, porpoises, crows, racoons, octopuses, bats or capuchin monkeys – had followed an evolutionary path much as we humans did? What would their descendants and their world look like today?

The author and illustrator Vitali Konstantinov invites his readers to imagine exactly this scenario, and supplies them with appropriate information about dinosaurs, octopuses, porpoises, racoons and various types of monkey that might have been capable of forming a civilisation (or perhaps even of dominating the world?) With many a teasing wink of the eye, with vivid comparisons and witty two-tone drawings that complement and exemplify the narrative text, he creates a complex web of ideas around the question of how these animals might have evolved. The departure point for these considerations is a graphic depiction of the prerequisites for any civilisation: tools, fire, habitations, language, and a ‘theory of mind’ (ToM).
  
For all of these five activities — inventing and using tools, exploiting and controlling fire, building dwellings, acquiring and developing language, interpreting the feelings, thoughts and intentions, both our own and those of others — an appropriate level of intelligence is called for. “Many creatures on our planet have found themselves at some point on the cusp of developing an enhanced degree of intelligence, and it would appear that after a further paltry few million years of evolution they might have attained it! But things kept happening that prevented the emergence of a different species of human kind — it would just have taken one meteorite impact more or one global flood less, and that might have done the trick…”

At this point Konstantinov takes his argument a logical step further: fold-out pages at the end of the relevant sections demonstrate what life might look like if the animals in question had got, or were yet to get, more time and scope for their development: colourful double-page spreads illustrate alternative visions of civilisation in which dinosaurs, octopuses, porpoises, racoons and monkeys take the place of humans. The lavish panoramas on the five fold-out pages are crafted with coloured inks and pens and are an absolute feast for the eye: they add an extra dimension at once entertaining and inspiring to the book’s essential enterprise of playing around with the concept of evolution. A lot of what the illustrator shows us in these panoramas is pure invention, but other aspects of them are a logical follow-on from the scientific insights referenced in the narrative text. Konstantinov’s book thus shows us very impressively just how enriching and worthwhile it can be to combine fact and fiction.

The scholarly insights underlying this extraordinary project are conveyed in a charmingly chatty tone,  but the notes, lists of sources and suggestions for further reading presented in the appendix show how carefully and conscientiously they were assembled; and the book is well rounded off with a glossary and index. But in addition to highlighting the book’s linguistic and visual finesse and punctilious presentation we must also mention the excellence of its design and overall finish. In short: Wenn nicht die Menschen is a splendidly harmonious piece of total art suitable for all those who are full of curiosity in their approach to the world and its potentialities.

By Marlene Zöhrer

Marlene Zöhrer is a professor, juror, public speaker, and writes reviews on children's and young adult literature. She teaches children's and young adult literature and German didactics at the University of Education Styria in Graz.

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