The Mice Go to the Opera is a poem for children. This is a classic genre, known in Bulgaria since the interwar period and influenced by European models. Opera is not exactly in vogue among today’s children, but when a group of lovable and smartly dressed mice become enthralled with it, there is a serious likelihood that will change. “Opera is beautiful!” we are assured by both the text and the illustrations in this equally beautiful book. They seem to gently take us by the ears and lead us out of our familiar everyday scenery. The artist Kiril Zlatkov approached Maria Doneva’s wonderful poems in a truly theatrical way, and you can see that they captivated him. The colour palettes are warm and complex, composed of carmine, ochre, sienna, emerald green, ultramarine, cinnabar... The mastered watercolour technique is combined with coloured pencil strokes and tempera accents. There is not a single blank page in the book – the illustrations fill the pages completely and do not let in a single ray of light from the ordinary world outside.