New Swedish Books, autumn 2019 1
New w S edish Books 22 Time Goes on Holiday When
my oldest son was three he claimed that he created the weather together with God. In collaboration they decided if it would rain or shine that day. When I read Time Goes on Holiday I imagine that my son would have envisaged ‘Time’ in just the same way that Ida Björs draws ‘her’ and Mattias Käck narrates ‘her’. Two children meet Time, a woman, who thinks things have gotten too stressful lately. Time takes a holiday from her work of letting time pass – leaving that responsibility to the two children. “Hey presto rain!” they say, and so it does in Ida Björs’ soft watercolour world where the whims of the children produce a number of adventures. That’s until Time comes back from her trip, bringing air from the valley of emptiness in a glass jar – both a memory and a physical souvenir. In Time Goes on Holiday activity, stillness and calm are blended together in a unique way. The experienced Time handles the passing of time in a different, more continuous, way than the two children. During the short period they are in charge they make orchestras, exciting houses and animals suddenly appear as if by magic. “Things have gotten a bit out of hand I see”, says Time. It was the same with my son. He wouldn’t take the blame for all those cloudy overcast days, but if it hailed, there was thunder, or a downpour then he was always involved in that dramatic change. Mattias Käck (text) b. 1983 Ida Björs (ill.) b. 1973 Time Goes on Holiday Picture book, 3–6 years, 28 p. Publisher Alfabeta Bokförlag www.alfabeta.se Rights Alfabeta Annakaisa Danielsson Annakaisa.danielsson@alfabeta.se Ida Björs Selected Works Botilda Bengtsson och brorsan, picture book, 2008 Cirkus!, picture book, 2015 Nominations Nominerad till Stora Svenska Illustratörspriset 2005 och 2010 Mattias Käck The debutant Mattias Käck has studied creative writing at Nordens folkhögskola Biskops Arnö and works as a librarian. Photo: Private Photo: Anwi Mohamed