In this picture book debut, we are greeted by a typical morning scene, surely well known to anyone who has ever had to hurry children off to kindergarten or school – the child would still like to sleep, and the parents are rushing him… The moment of identification is there for both generations.
The little centipede has, as a response to all this hurrying, a well-developed system of delaying tactics and a whole set of appealing alternatives to going to kindergarten. But the mother, unfortunately, has no ear for good ideas—until she realizes she was mistaken and that they are, in fact, not in a hurry at all. In terms of its message, the story is not new; many picture books tell us that it is important to take time for companionship, conversation, and play. The essential question, however, is how the author leads us to that message. Darja Marinšek does so with two interesting characters and a short, refined story in which we also find a few charming wordplays – yet its main strength is undoubtedly its sound. Just as the author skillfully balances everyday life with small touches of humor, a charming twist, and skillful writing, so the illustrator finds just the right combination of the anthropomorphic and the “centipede-like” in her depictions—not to mention the details: costume design and interior design are, after all, things Stupica approaches with meticulous precision.