POŽAR

In The Fire, Neli Kodrič Filipić, a renowned Slovenian children’s author, tells the story of Tree people, who are displaced by a fire that devastates their home. Forced to escape down a rushing river, they try to find a place to stay. The Shore people refuse to accept them but throw them a raft, the Stone people sympathise but only supply them with food. Finally, the Tree people land in the rushes and create a new home for themselves. One day, the river brings the Gulf people, and while the Tree people’s first instinct is to send them on, they change their minds and accept them. The story, created before the first arrival of the recently displaced people from the Middle East, is very pertinent for today’s situation in Europe. Bojana Dimitrovski’s haunting illustrations complement the story and bring home the loneliness and psychological states of the immigrants.