Cu cizmulițe de mălai

Cu cizmulițe de mălai shows how children play with words. It looks at how they make sense of their world. Constanța Buzea wrote this book of poems for young readers. It blends humour with tender moments. It draws on children’s speech, games and creatures they dream up.

Cats, dogs, squirrels and small owls live with made-up beings. Small quests take place at the table and on strange rides. Slips in children’s speech give known words new forms. One more letter changes cats, fleas and fairy-tale heroes. A loud motorbike gets a name that blends machine and sound.

Other poems give feelings and day-to-day woes lives of their own. A child’s whimpers bask in the sun with the child. A boy longs to be a lamb to wear a bell. One nose fights a cold; a Pekingese has the other. Chicks march through May in small boots made of cornmeal.

Buzea shows how each child speaks and sees in distinct ways. Literary critics see her as a key poet of her time. This book has colour art by Karda Zenko. It forms part of the Vlad si cartea cu Genius series.