Kids Corner: Virmalised (The Northern Lights) by Gerda Märtens

VINCENT TEETSOV

The aurora borealis. The northern lights; and all that lives and scurries around below it. It’s a cozy and exciting setting for a picture book, with visual elements of the mid-century gouache illustration style that has been popular with children’s illustrators in 2020. In Gerda Märtens’ rendering of this style, she brushes the paint to create warm and glowing scenery for Jon, a polar bear, to share with us.

Jon has left his home near the shore, because the driving rain has moved in. It pours “nagu oavarrest” (“like a beanstalk”)! His town was once a place that would bring a smile to his face, and a glimmer to his camera lens. It drew visiting bears from out-of-town. But the sun that shined brilliantly over his home in the morning has been swallowed up by a sinister sky of grey, for an undetermined amount of time. Rain inundates his town and the snow is washed away. What is most precious to him is gone. The townsfolk dance and party inside at first, until the water floods the streets. Jon becomes physically unwell. For his safety, and to retrieve the beauty he knew before, he decides he must leave. He packs his bag, takes his camera, and travels to the Arctic circle.

(Full story available via link below)

Illustration: Gerda Märtens