Yet another of our important illustrators, Daniella Stamatiadi, meets with the author Maria Likartsi to tell us what would happen “Normally”, as is the title of their book published by Kastaniotis.
Especially after the crime of Tempi (forgive me but I don’t consider it an “accident”), the book that was published in the same days acquired a chilling relevance.
The first sentence, accompanied by a cheerful image, reads “Normally, today my mother would have given me a March bracelet*. White and red thread, a sign that spring has come.
Gradually, from page to page, while we see what would have happened “normally”, the grey and black, the ruins that at first exist only in a crack dominate and the “normally” disappears in the flames.
In the end there is hope, but the bitter taste remains. Someday everything will become “normal”. But until then?
After I read it, I took it with me to a creative writing workshop with 5th graders and without commenting I kept it open and read it to them. I could see that they understood very well what was going on… Then there was a very long discussion. About these sudden “tragedies” that tear people’s lives apart.
Really excellent work that gives us adults a reason to reflect on the value of “normality”, which even seems boring to us sometimes…
*The March Bracelet or “Marti” is an ancient Greek custom for the beginning of spring. Its name is derived from the Greek word for the month of March: Μάρτιος (Martios). Beginning on March 1st, it is a tradition for adults and children in Greece to wear a bracelet made of twisted red and white thread.
