Children’s and Young Adult

Where Radek Malý’s Poetický slovníček dětem v příkladech (Small Poetic Dictionary for Children with Examples) stopped a couple of years ago, the guiding torch was picked up by this new project set on making poetry popular among school children. In his ten ventures into more advanced fields of poetry, Robin Král reveals some of the treasures of the era when poets were seen as final arbiters in questions of beauty. Whether he strolls around the Mediterranean in search of the roots of the sonnet, rondel or Villonesque balad, throws us a cunning wink in the five verses of an Irish limerick, or explains how the Arabic ghazal or Malaysian pantun are written, each example of the different poetic forms is invariably both musical and playful.

Illustrations by Jana Hrušková, which are at their wittiest in the section on Far-Eastern calligraphy, and Zuzana Brečanová’s typography, all combine into an imaginative poetic travel guide that meets all its objectives. Unlike a medieval troubadour belauding the charm of ladies, this volume celebrates the creative nous afforded to mankind in the form of X-rays, sugar cubes and ski lifts, bottle openers, light bulbs, engines… and, last but not least, the instrument without which poetry could hardly exist: writing.

Praise

“Are you looking for a book for a rational-minded young reader, who likes science, technology, discoveries and inventions? Or are you looking for a book for a young poet with a sense of humour? The House of Inventions is for both such readers.”

— Jitka Zítková, iLiteratura