Books | These six books are nominated as winners of Finlandia for children’s and young people’s literature

This year’s the Finlandia candidates for children’s and youth literature cover a wide range. In three novels aimed at young people, they play football, go on vacation and recover from an accident; in three children’s picture books, we go to sleep, spend the night with different families and look for a friend in the middle of the snow.

Let’s think about mental health problems for a minute, but also enjoy and be happy.

Four of the candidates, Jukka Behm, Ted Forsstrom, Magdalena Hai and Name Istohave previously been nominated for the Finlandia prize for children’s and youth literature.

Below are all this years nominees:

Jukka Behm: Boy Wonder Leon (Tammi)

Jukka Behmin youth book A soft toy girl was nominated for the Finlandia Award for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in 2017. Prodigy Leon.

In the young adult novel, orphan Leon Brown lives with a related family. The 13-year-old plays park futs with his peers, because his adoptive father won’t let Leon into the junior team. When Leon’s prank videos on YouTube end up in the eyes of a talent scout, he gets into the Hammersmith academy, and his whole life changes.

“The story includes a Harry Potter-esque rags-to-riches saga, but Behm clearly knows the sport, as all the details related to football are accurate and believable. In addition, he perfectly describes friendship, competition and the search for one’s own place related to youth”, writes HS Susanna Laari in his assessment.

The council’s reasoning: “The book takes the reader to England, the world’s football field. The book is a description of friendship and rootlessness as well as the brutality of racing and elite sports. The work is full of masterful plot twists, wonderful characters and exciting game situations. The book has an appropriate layer of magic dust and hope on top of reality. The book also holds the reader, who finds it difficult to settle in front of the text.”

Ted Forsström & Åsa Lucander: Snälla Stella, shutta skälla! / I lift the cat, Hush! (Förlaget / Etana Editions, fin. Johannes Ekholm)

by Ted Forsström writing and by Åsa Lucander in the picture book I am illustrating, we are going to sleep when we hear the godfather from the kitchen and the hallway. The quiet dog starts barking: is grandma bringing the turkey? Do squirrels make a nest in the toaster?

The situation is familiar to everyone who has put a child to sleep: there is always something somewhere that needs to be checked, looked at, wondered about. Forsström writes comedy for radio, television and theater, and humor is also strongly present I lift the cat, Hija! in the book. Lucander’s illustration is warm and full of funny details, bringing to mind the Viiru and Pesonen classics.

Ted Forsström was nominated for the Finlandia prize for children’s and young people’s literature in 2017 with the work ZOO! #1: Virala genier / Zoo. Viral geniuses (Fin. Laura Beckillustrated by Pentti Otsamo), which he co-wrote Kaj Korkea-ahon with.

The council’s reasoning: “In the book, the fairytale moment of a weekday evening starts with the barking of a dog. The expressiveness of the illustration and the tonal world make an impression, and the language is full of wild rhymes and details, where fantasy overtakes everyday life. In the piece, the peace and chaos of a weekday evening alternate in a way that tickles the nerves of laughter. The book guarantees a fun reading moment in both languages.”

Magdalena Hai: Horned God (Otava)

Magdalena Hai in a young adult novel, we are on the verge of horror. Lauri wakes up from the hospital after the family got into a car accident, and he doesn’t remember much of the events that preceded it. The mother is dead, the father is lying in tubes and Lauri moves to recover with Aunt Vanessa’s family.

However, not everything is right in the small village: a huge freak deer appears behind the window, a dead girl walks in the ditch and Lauri begins to have creepy, realistic dreams. Vilja-Maaria, a couple of years older, lives next door, whom Lauri falls in love with at first sight. However, the girl has her own ghosts.

Hai skillfully increases the cycle of horror to become more and more tormenting, and the story flows smoothly with Lauri’s voice.

Magdalena Hai Chronicles of Royaume – the first part of the series Third sister was a Finlandia nominee for children’s and youth literature in 2018.

The council’s reasoning: “The novel describes a phase of life where one life ends and a new one should begin, but nothing is the same. In the book, the world of young people is skillfully created, and the dynamic structure and surprising nature of the work are preserved until the end. Several plot twists, levels and emotions have been created in a small number of pages in a captivating style. The work contains horror, guilt and appealing symbolism, right down to the dramatic cover image. It’s a genuine young adult novel.”

Anna Elina Isoaro & Mira Mallius: Two aunts named Veera (WSOY)

Anna Elina Isoaro written by and Mira Mallius illustrated picture book about two different aunts and three different families.

Ester and Viljam think it’s miserable when father and mother argue. When the parents go to sort out their affairs on a weekend vacation, let’s take the children to the night village to Aunt Veera – but which Aunt Veera?

Raita-Veera is the father’s twin and Pallo-Veera the mother’s. The aunts are completely different from each other, but neither of them have their own children. Both have their own reasons, and they are revealed in the picture book in a straightforward manner.

Mallius’ full-page illustration draws the reader into fast-paced and colorful moments with close people.

Isoaro and Mallius have previously published together about the baby’s death a picture book Winter came that nightwhich won the Botnia Literature Prize in 2021.

The council’s reasoning: “The book takes you from the kitchen table to the homes and lives of different people. The story is fantastically insightful and meandering, but at the same time clear. The language is alive and beautiful. The pictorial world of the work is original and detached, the compositions are great and the tonal ensemble is beautiful. The folding also deserves praise, every opening is a well-thought-out whole. The work is a constructive and thought-provoking reading experience.”

Sanna Isto: The Invisibles (Oak)

Silicon has to on summer vacation with mother and little sister to the country. To top it all off, mother’s best friend Kettunen and his daughter Iiris move in, and Pii tries to escape her own feeling of being an outsider Agatha Christie to detective stories.

However, the concentration is strained when Pii sees a strange boy moving around the house. The others do not see the boy, and soon Pii is in the middle of a secret that overshadows the sunny idyll of the small village. There are thefts at holiday homes and no recent deaths have been investigated.

Twice Arvid Lydeck award-winning Sanna Isto’s novel deals with the themes of externality and the construction of the self in a poignant way, smoothly combining magic and realism.

Sanna Iston Under the earth was a Finlandia nominee for children’s and youth literature in 2016.

The council’s reasoning: “The work creates a landscape made up of lace villas and bumpy dirt roads, where summer vacations must be spent with loved ones. In the book, a light blanket of fantasy is spread over everyday events. The work is a wonderful and surprising description of the need to be seen and the pain points of family and sibling relationships. The skillful text creates an almost cinematic world, while the text defends its place specifically as a book with the help of different levels and symbolism.”

Meri & Aleksi Korpela: Fearless Field Mouse – Snow Labyrinth (Otava)

Sea and Aleksi Korpelan the picture book series has progressed to the fourth volume. Winter has come, and the Field Mouse walks with his friend Päästäinen in a forest that has become strangely alien. The friends sing to encourage themselves, and that’s why the Field Mouse doesn’t immediately notice that Päästäinen is missing.

Päästäinen, who worked hard on the project, plunges through the snow to the bottom of a deep hole. After noticing the disappearance, Fearless Field Mouse realizes that the most important task of his life is at hand.

Meri Korpela writes the stories and Aleksi Korpela does the illustrations, but the couple edits the text and sketches the pictures together. The adventures of the Fearless Field Mouse have a charmingly timeless spirit of fairy tales, reminiscent of English children’s literature classics.

The council’s reasoning: “The story transports the reader to a snowy forest. The book’s illustrations are magical and enchanting, the reader can go underground and in the upper air in the journey of the captivating characters and can feel the snow and frost on their skin. The book bows to the tradition of fairy tale literature at the level of text and illustrations, renewing it subtly. The work’s target group is wide, because its story opens up to both young and old readers.”

CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE Finlandia is chosen this year by a musician, an artist Mr. Ylppö.

The candidates were chosen by a committee chaired by the Commissioner for Children Elina Pekkarinen and executive director as members Asta Boman and school librarian Olli Rantala.

The Finlandia Award for children’s and youth literature is a recognition awarded by the Finnish Book Foundation to a meritorious Finnish children’s or youth book. The prize is 30,000 euros.

The Finlandia Prize for children’s and youth literature has been awarded since 1997. Got the award last year Sophia and Amanda Chanfreau Giraffes hjärta är ovanligt stort / A giraffe’s heart is unusually large (Fin. Outi Menna).

ALL THREE The Finlandia Prize will be awarded at a party on November 29, which can be watched live on television.

In each series, the councils have always nominated six candidates, which is the maximum allowed by the rules. There must be at least three candidates.

The competition is organized by the publishing industry’s joint Finnish Book Foundation.