A crazy, crazy world
Verrickte Welt means "Crazy world" in English. Atak´s silent book portrays a crazy world indeed - everything is turned around, up-side down and the exact opposite of what you would expect. The cover illustration is of a lion training a clown, and the first spread shows a mouse chasing three cats. The mouse stays with us, page after page, as we explore artic animals in the jungle, a rabbit shooting a hunter, firemen putting out water with fire... you get the idea.
According to Atak, the inspiration for this book were German 18th century "bilderbogen", one-page stories that are seen as the origin of comics. Atak´s illustrations are completely hand-made. They have a crazy feel to them, a surreal feast of color and playfullness.
Verrickte Welt is a joyful read that causes giggles and laughs. But by turning things upside-down, Atak also makes us reflect: About animal rights, welfare distribution, children´s rights...The book is wonderful for teaching visual literacy: It teaches us how little we actually see when looking briefly at a picture. One example is the illustration of firemen, where water is bursting out of a house and the firemen try to put it put with fire. Because our first instinct is to see what we expect to see, many readers will see the "normal version" - a house with flames and firemen with water - for a few seconds before the brain register what it is actually seeing.
Verriickte Welt is also an excellent conversation starter with all age groups. Many children willlove the pictures where children act as adults, and teenagers and adults might choose to reflect upon the illustrations on animal rights or welfare. Herein lies what is both the weakness and the strength of the book. It offers something to everybody: Animals, vehicles, fairy tale references, references to art and design. So, there is something for the animal activist,the envionmentalist, the comic book lover. But by offering something to everybody, the book as a whole might seem a little chaotic and messy. Then again, so is the world, so maybe Atak is making a point!
This is a very original picture book, a perfect gift for all lovers of illustrations no matter their age. It is a book where everyone can find at least one page or spread that they really love and that makes them laugh, reflect and tell stories about our crazy world.
