Labrit, Mammu!
Colorful, playful chaos
Latvian artist Anita Rupeika dedicates this book to both "the heroic mothers that try to do everything perfect, and to the confident mothers that has found the strenght to indulge in playful chaos with their children". The title, "Labrit, Mammu!" translates to "Good morning, Mommy!" and in the beginning of the book, the reader is introduced to a mother and her three daughters in a bed. The daughters wants to wake up and play, but it is obvious that their mother needs to sleep just a little longer.
The storyline is quite simple: The daughters get up on their own and rummage through the house, creating chaos in every single room they enter. The mother eventually wakes up and follows their trail. She looks so shocked by the mess they have made that many readers will expect a confrontation of some kind, but her daughters wins her over with their joy and laughter, and there is a happy ending where they all have a wonderful, messy breakfast together.
While the storyline is not very complex, the illustrations are brimming with colors and details. The pastel color scheme is gorgeous: Soft blues, yellows and peach combined with purples and shades of orange. Rupeika's use of light is exceptional: even though we do not see the sky outside in any picture, there is a strong feeling of this happening on a sunny day, the feeling of sunshine being reflected into every room. The continous spectrum of color creates harmony even in the most chaotic illustrations. The three girls make an impressive amount of mess in every room they are in, but Rupeika makes the reader see the beauty of their playfullness.
The rooms are filled with colorful carpets, pictures, bedspreads, objects and pillows. Rupeika offers many fun side-tracks to follow. Beware of what is happening in the picture frames, especially the one with the bat... At the last spread of the book, there is a page with lots of objects to be throughout the book. A fun way to go treasure-hunting and a great way to build visual literacy, but with this book I do not think it is necessary, as all the pages invites a treasure hunt in their own right.
Rupeika is a well-known artist, working as both an illustrator and animator. The latter is obvious in her illustrations, that all have a strong feeling of movement.
Labrit, Mammu! will be very relatable both for children and their parents. For adults, it is an important reminder of embracing those moments that might seem chaotic from the outside, but that provides life-long memories to everyone involved. Rupeika reminds us to respect the world of children and to remember to sometimes immerse ourselves in the world of playing and imagination. We can always clean up tommorow.
