\New Swedish Books, spring 2019 1
21 Spring 2019 Annica Hedin (text) b. 1969 Hanna
Klinthage (ill.) b. 1994 They’re Called Adults Picture book, 3–6 years, 22 p. Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Rabén & Sjögren Agency Åsa Bergman asa.bergman@rabensjogren.se Annica Hedin Works Hej håret, picture book, 2017 Stig, picture book, 2018 Hanna Klinthage has a degree in illustration and graphic design from the art school Konstfack, 2017. They’re Called Adults This picture book is out on the kitchen table and my seventeenyear-old son reads it aloud to me. He thinks that the descriptions of the goings on of the grownups are spot on. Situations that adults experience, appreciate, have to get through, dread or aim for are humorously depicted in an informative text and in detailed images, We Look Inside a Grown-up is the title of the first chapter and all the big people’s things are reproduced: their boring furniture, potted plants, coffee thermoses and the conference table that the adults gather around. Yet on the inside, in their minds, their questions aren’t much different to those of a child. “Will anyone notice if I take another bun?” or “why wasn’t I invited to Laila’s party?”. The repeated decision to portray objects and people against a white background, and therefore released from their context, makes They’re Called Adults resemble those factual books for children that describe how the body, society or the solar system works. A fun book for grown-ups, those who are almost grown-up, and of course for children. Photo: Göran Segeholm Photo: Kajsa Göransson