Salmi and Pikkujämsä nominated for the 2020 Nordic Council Children's and Youth Literature Prize

02 Apr 2020

Author Veera Salmi and illustrator Matti Pikkujämsä are one of the nominees for the 2020 Nordic Council Children’s and Youth Literature Prize for their picture book The Duck Who Was Afraid To Fly (in Finnish Sorsa Aaltonen ja lentämisen oireet published by Otava Publishing Company in 2019). Our warmest congratulations to both!

Quote from the jury:

The picture book is a modern animal fable. [– –]

The world described in the book is full of disadvantaged and socially vulnerable characters. The cookie queue, where some of the birds get their daily food, refers to the real-world bread queues – which is to say, the growing inequality in the cities. As the narrator of the picture book describes the cookie queue: “This was where those birds whose dreams had not come true received today’s cookie ration.”[– –]

In the world of the picture book, however, urban poverty and the inequality of society are not described in a bleak and sad manner. Pikkujämsä’s humorous illustrations in clear colours displace the serious content, and both the text and the pictures discover some marvellous beauty in the city: The sun shines like “the cream in a cake” and the most beautiful thing of all is to watch the lovely dance of the swans in the lake.[– –]

The way the book plays with different characteristics of birds is also cheerful…In Pikkujämsä’s naivistically colourful illustrations, the birds are birds, and the book’s diversity of species is delightful in its range. In the narrative text, bird sounds are contained in the inventive layout, and for the young reader there are many exciting things to study in the birds.”[– –]

The Duck Who Was Afraid To Fly is Veera Salmi’s wise story about overcoming self-doubt and forgetting about what others think, combined with Matti Pikkujämsä’s charmingly bright paintings. 

The Duck lives in a city among others who seem to live an interesting everyday life with a purpose  except the Duck himself. Strange symptoms and anxiety result in the doctor’s diagnosis  a fear of flying. As an admirer of the graceful dancing and flying of the swans, the inspired Duck pulls on a tulle skirt and imitates their elegant movements, in secret behind a tree. But the Duck cannot fly  it only falls on its beak!

A moving yet humorous narrative with vivid artful illustration inspires every reader to find their inner duck. 

Both Veera Salmi and Matti Pikkujämsä are front-line talents who have received numerous recognitions. Their joint collaboration has received several nominations including the 2020 Arvid Lydecken prize and Runeberg Junior Prize.

The Nordic Council Children and Young People’s Literature Prize has been awarded annually since 2013 to a literary work written in one of the Nordic languages, that meets high literary and artistic standards. The prize represents the Nordic culture ministers’ long-held ambition to strengthen the profile of literature for children and young people in the Nordic Region.

See all 14 nominees here. The winner will be announced on 27 October at an awards ceremony in Reykjavik.

Interested in hearing more and receiving reading materials of The Duck Who Was Afraid To Fly? Let us know!