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| Ilo elää : Selkonovelleja |
STORY: This compact book features 13 short stories by various authors. Each story embraces joy or happiness - finding joy, experiencing joy, sharing joy. According to the back cover, Opike and Selkokeskus held a writing competition in 2022, where stories showed joy. This book contains the competition's best selections. One story, "Kaikki on niin iloisia," (Everything is so joyful) by Kari Tapaninen won the top prize.
LANGUAGE: Each story is short, around 2 -5 pages in length. The book features the page layout similar to other selkokirja novels, with white spaces on each side of the page. Each short story is finished with a color illustration or full page color page. The short stories are set in present day, in shopping centers, outdoors, in homes, on the job. The book is less than 100 pages (82 to be exact), making it as easy read to pick up and put down and finish in a short time. The paperback and square format makes it easy to pack along in a bag. Based on the language, I would classify this as a B1 - B2 level book. Because the stories are short, there is not a not of repetitive vocabulary, so the reader would need a good base vocabulary or be prepared to learn new words for each story.
CHARACTERS: The characters in the collection are very diverse, from teenagers to mothers, a patient in the hospital to a city tunnel painter.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This is a great book for teens or adults. Some stories, where the main characters come across as younger, would appeal to teens, around yläkoulu age (grades 7-9). The main characters in other stories are adults, but are still appropriate for teens. Adults of any age would enjoy all of the stories, remembering a first job or being a new resident as well as identifying with the adults in their stories. Some of the stories are about joy and happiness in general, others are directly linked to mental health, such as anxiety and panic attacks. I believe this will appeal to many readers and it is positive to see this in a selkokirja collection.
