Evi Gerokosta
Hook and loop
Illustrated by Kostas Markopoulos
Translated by Klarisa Jovanović
Shoes of all kinds parade through the streets, but the boy still only wears those with Velcro. He is obsessed with shoelaces, as he just can’t seem to learn how to tie them, despite getting bigger and older. Confused by knots and loops, he lowers his gaze, looks at other people’s shoes, and nothing is – or doesn’t seem – easy. Sometimes, he feels a knot in his stomach, and other times his heart is tied to a loop. Until one day, the boy realizes what his feelings mean and lifts his gaze. An invisible hand unties the knots and loops that he was carrying on the inside … …
This symbolic story speaks about uncertainty, anxiety, and seemingly insurmountable difficulties, about emotions and growing up. It teaches children to recognize and name emotions, and the picture book is valuable because it conveys that problems can disappear when we redirect our gaze, when we change our perspective.
EVI GEROKOSTA studied French Literature and Culture at the University of Athens-Department of Philosophy, and literary translation at the French Institute of Athens. She has worked at non- governmental organizations for environmental protection, at the European Literary Translation Center as well as at the National Book Center of Greece
KOSTAS MARKOPOULOS is a Greek painter and illustrator, born in 1977 in Kalamata. He studied at the School of Fine Arts at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in Thessaloniki and Athens. His illustrations for the children’s book The Angry Cement Mixer received the National Prize for Children’s Books Illustration as well as an EBGE Design Award. His illustration for the book From the City of Tastes (by F. Vakana and S. Eleftheriou) was awarded first prize by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation. Kostas Markopoulos lives in Thessaloniki, where he works as a primary school art teacher.