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Johanna Schaible from Bern redefines the boundaries of the picture book – and takes the reader on a personal journey through time. With her picture book debut “Once upon a time and will be for a long time” she wins the children’s and youth book prize.
With the choice of Schaible’s picture book, the jury once again showed their flair for works whose artists are willing to experiment. Last year the winning book was Martin Panchaud’s “The Color of Things” – a book full of pictograms, infographics and symbols.
This year it is a picture book about the concept of time that appeals to all generations and breaks new ground with its innovative design.
You zoom towards the present
The book “Once upon a time and for a long time to come” begins with large pages about the past. Short texts can be read on large, colorful illustrations, such as: “The land was formed billions of years ago”. The next page says, “Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth.” And so you turn to the present with smaller and smaller pages with a changing format.
You realize that the present is built on the past and you zoom in on it, so to speak. Until you get to the middle of the book and read the request on a picture with a shooting star: “Now, make a wish!” The pages then get bigger again with questions about the future.
A book with universal themes
Johanna Schaible does not tell a classic story. She doesn’t see herself as a classic storyteller either: “I’m interested in the universal themes that connect us humans.” She experiments until she has found a form that allows an abstract concept to be experienced – and thus creates the opportunity for exchange about it.
Legend:
SRF / Lukas Maeder
38-year-old Johanna Schaible studied design and art at the Lucerne School of Art. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 2013, she has worked as an artist and illustrator in Bern.
“I couldn’t draw without writing. I have to treat both of them the same way right from the start, the writing is also part of the image. (…) Drawing and writing are not subject to linear development. The process is more like circling until you have encircled what you want.”
You can find more about Johanna Schaible on the SRF literature platform views.
In her now award-winning book, she has fully succeeded in doing so. The 38-year-old says: “I started out with terms like time and air, but I didn’t know where that would lead me. Because I am also interested in formally unusual books, I played with the format right from the start. Over time, the idea of the zoom and time travel came up.»
The interaction of image, text and material design convinced the five-strong jury. Jury member Stefan Schröter states: “The fact that a book whose materiality is so important is being honored reflects the spirit of the times. The material design sets it apart from digitality.” The winning book offers everything that makes good literature, Stefan Schröter continues: It stimulates our imagination and challenges our judgment.
For all generations
The varied, artistic pictures with some philosophical questions make this picture book attractive for all generations. Johanna Schaible says: “When a grandchild watches this story with his grandmother, it’s different than when two children or two adults watch it together.”
The dedication on the first page is coherent and beautiful: “For the adults of tomorrow and the children of yesterday.”