Maria Gulemetova was born in 1977 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated from the National Academy of Art in 2001 with a major in textiles. She studied at Anglia Ruskin School of Art, where she earned a Master’s Degree in children’s book illustration in 2015. Her first picture book Beyond the Fence, published by Child’s Play, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway award. Maria lives in Oregon, and has two teenage children.
Maria Gulemetova - Beyond the Fence
Maria Gulemetova /
Beyond the Fence
Author: , publisher , 2017
This debut book from 2017 won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Award in England, with the jury appreciating its clear message, conveyed unobtrusively through a plot about a child and his toy. A piglet lives in a big house with Thomas. There is a friendship between them, but it follows Thomas’s strict rules – Piggy does what the little boy decides. What they will play, what clothes the piglet will wear, whether he will go outside or watch his friend and master’s puppet show. One day, while Thomas is playing with his cousin in the big house, Piggy goes for a walk in the field among the green hills and meets a boar. They are immediately connected through their shared desire for freedom. They run together, not watched over by anyone and without any barriers or obstacles. The theme of forced friendship and true friendship, constructed by Maria Gulemetova through the contrast between the big house, full of toys, and nature, which is freedom itself, is expanded upon with more questions – wild vs. domestic, the price of freedom, etc., which children can discuss with their teachers and parents. Of course, the book’s inspiration is built mostly on the artist’s incredible drawings. With just a few lines and delicate watercolor painting, the characters come to life in rich and complex states. And the different approach in the development of the house, monochrome and geometric, and the world outside, with many shades of green and blue, really makes us soar with the main character.
Beyond the Fence
Author:
Illustrator: Maria Gulemetova
Illustrator: Maria Gulemetova
2017
40 pages
280 х 220, твърда корица
ISBN 978-184-643-931-5
40 pages
280 х 220, твърда корица
ISBN 978-184-643-931-5
Beyond the Fence
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