Tur Retur
By: Per Ragnar Møkleby
Published: Spriten forlag, Norway, 2025
Format: Leporello
What a (train) ride!
INFO: Dette er en forkortet versjon av anmeldelsen. Du kan lese hele på norsk på Barnebokkritikk.no
There are not a lot of Norwegian silent books yet, so every new title is a grand event. Illustrator and artist Per Ragnar Møkleby´s new book, Tur-retur, is a fun and original work that will probably stir interest also in other countries.
Tur-retur (translates to Round trip) is both a silent book and a leporello, thus being remarkable to the Norwegian market in more ways than one - formats other than hardbacks and pocket books are as unusual as silent books. Because it is a leoprello about a train ride,
Tur-Retur gives associations to Voyage d´hiver, but where Brouillard allows the reader to sit in medtative silence and watch the peaceful landscape glide by, Møkleby places the reader in the middle of the chaotic reality inside the train. Our fellow passengers are animals, humans, robots, fairytale-characters, celebrities...you name it, it´s probably there.
The illustrations might seem chaotic at first glance, but when you study them more closely you will disover a very well thought out visual landscape. One side of the leporello is the daytrain, the other one is the night train. If you stretch the leporello, it looks like at train leaving the station. Møkleby fills both sides of the leporello floor to ceiling with characters. He uses the views from the windows, small signs on the wall and other visual references to comment and/or explain the characters we see.
The reader will find lots of references to current events, fairy tales, art and politics. Many are for adults, but children will take delight in the fairy tale references, and in spotting their favourite cartoon characters both inside and outside the windows. There are fun stories to be found, like the girl with the red hood, who sits across a wolf on the day train, but is alone wearing a wolf coat on the night train… Møkleby creates harmony and tie all the images together by using a calm and toned-down palette of colors that is consistent throughout the book.
Tur -retur touches on serious subjects, like migration and global warming, but this is very subtle – a possibility to use the book as a gateway to more serious conversation. For foreign readers, the book is a glimpse into Norwegian culture in more ways than one: Yes, you have national icons like the famous painting Scream on the wall of the train, but there are also references to the liberal Scandi approach to raising children: Images of mooses having sex and bloody knife stabbings might not be accepted as appropriate entertainment for kids in all cultures.
Møkleby has made a playful and original silent book, a visual cornucopia with an abundance of stories for adults and children alike. Tur-retur has the potential to inspire great conversations and fun train-play in kindergartens and schools. If you and your family are going on a trainride, close your screens, unfold the book and you have enough stories to last all the way from Oslo to Rome and back again.