Two decades ago there was children's literature, and then almost immediately there was adult literature. Having barely dealt with Dunno, we moved on to... what? For a while to Dumas, Walter Scott, Jack London, Jules Verne, and then soon to Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Now, fortunately, literature for teenagers is a separate big topic. In these books, grown-up children will meet characters close to them in age, with similar problems, recognizable situations, and will find the answer to the question of how to live on when you are at perhaps the most difficult age.
“Waffle Heart” is a story by the modern Norwegian writer Maria Parr, who, as is now customary with all children's writers, is called the new Astrid Lindgren. I don’t know, in my opinion, they are both beautiful, but they have little in common...
This story is about the life of a reasonable nine-year-old boy Trille and his slightly crazy girlfriend Lena, with whom they always get into different troubles:
- putting out a Midsummer fire using a tractor with manure
- they make a Noah’s Ark from someone else’s boat, where they drive all the nearby living creatures that resist, including insects
- rescue a previously adopted horse from a burning stable
- they bury all the radios in the house, “as if under the Nazis”
- they break their arms, get a “concussion”, run away from home with a laying hen under their arm, fight, earn money by singing, get another concussion, etc., etc.
There is a lot of humor in the book, you can giggle at every line, but you must keep in mind that sometimes poop is mentioned here, and slang words slip through, and there are curses (censored, however), so if you are scrupulous , prepare yourself mentally.
But “Waffle Heart” is not all hooliganism and giggles, this book is much deeper: there are poignant partings, deep feelings, there is a merciless time that knows no mercy for either people or animals, there is death and inescapable melancholy.
In general, this is a very good book for teenagers about life itself with all its sorrows and joys. We also advise parents.
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