WE GO TO THE PARK

Two globally acclaimed creators—author Stridsberg and illustrator Alemagna—join forces in this boundary-pushing picture book for older readers translated from Swedish.

Positioning the park as a liminal space, the spare, poetic text and beautifully unsettling art explore its endless possibilities as children play and wander: “It is the land beyond. / In the park, anything can happen.” The paintings, many of them two-page spreads showing trees, fields, and playgrounds, are arresting and reminiscent of Fauvism. Many evoke a raked theater stage, with the background appearing to rise in elevation. The flatness of the human figures and the absence of detailed facial features are characteristics that feel intentionally childlike, standing in juxtaposition with the sophisticated color palette and unusual perspectives: Readers often view scenes from some height and distance or, at times, very close up, with headless torsos dominating the foreground. The art is free-flowing, with many of the images lacking black outlines. As readers explore these surreal, dreamlike landscapes that contain both rich dark colors and bright, intense ones, they become immersed in text that can be interpreted as a meditation on childhood’s fleeting and changeable nature: “The trees have stood here for a thousand years / and they plan to stand here longer still. // We are like the trees: we don’t want to leave either.” Contemplative teens on the cusp of independence and adult readers nostalgic for the mysteries and wonders of their early years will linger and ponder.

Wondrously strange and wonderfully evocative.