Margrete Lamond (text) and Mateja Jager (illustrator), Paper-Flower Girl, Dirt Lane Press, 2023, 40 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9780645352399
Margrete Lamond dedicates The Paper-flower Girl, ‘For every wild creative heart.’ In this picture book, her language is beautiful and invites research and exploration. The artwork is stunning as it interprets the beauty of the origami flowers that capture the delicate essence of nature and a sense of tranquillity. Each paper flower carries the heart of the heroine in words. Each illustration carries the heart of the heroine in art.
Days and weeks of interlacing,
Months of folding, unfurling,
Petal of berry, petals of amber,
Of plum, of corn, of sky.
The folding and unfurling bring forth intricate petals and graceful curves that transform the paper into three-dimensional masterpieces. Then there is a threat to the creations made by the Paper-Flower Girl. The Giant demands the girl is brought to him on the hill to create great works. However, the heroine cannot satisfy the Giant with her creations. She becomes increasingly scared, frustrated and angry as he shouts that her work is ‘too slow’, ‘too fancy’, ‘too clever’, ‘too tiresome’. He forces the heroine to transform her paper flowers, into what she no longer recognises. The frightening Giant throws her down off the hill. But the Paper-Flower Girl takes the Giant’s scarf with her.
She finds home and creates again. This time the paper flowers are even more special, as she incorporates the Giant’s scarf in her work.
Like many stories outside the creators’ own culture, the author and illustrator have the skill to interpret and understand the Japanese art of origami and translate it into a universal fairy tale.
Suitable for secondary students. This book can be purchased from the publisher’s website, where teacher notes can also be found.
Reviewed by Susanne Gervay
