Lisa Moroni throws loose in « The Legend of the Forest »
Then the author debut with « Watch out for the crocodile! » In 2016, Lisa Moroni has worked up a huge bibliography. As a copywriter in close collaboration with mother Eva Eriksson, who became a household name in Swedish children’s literature already in the joint between the 1970s and 1980s. In its own right, as a creator of both text and image in their own series of fables about the besties Pigan and Kurran, which explores the changing nature around them.
In the picture books on the dynamic duo, a lost acorn can lead to a wild treasure hunt, all while a dry stream will be the start of a multifaceted adventure. Recognition and curiosity run like a red – or should you say green – thread through Lisa Moroni’s forest landscape, often illuminated by a yellow, almost sparkling undertone. Still, there is not no salt, as in the picture book « The maid and the cure in deep water » (2021) where a far too hot and rainy summer leads the maid, the cure and the other forest animals on a hike after water.
It’s tempting To read the latter as a prelude to the new « The Legend of the Forest », also the fable that takes a boot against a wrecked ecosystem. Still, there are two quite different picture books. Thanks in large part to Lisa Moroni finally daring to throw away. Where she previously emerged as a slightly anonymous voice, in a slightly traditional weight and already well -explored child literary genre, she now emerges as a more full -fledged and allegorical storyteller. « The Legend of the Forest » is a kind of contemporary, mild and at the same time exploring civilization criticism about the importance of keeping memories alive. Everything is carried by a densified, but strikingly safe design language put in soft pen line and a warm color palette.
In the picture book, a bear mom and her little bear kid step out into a new and devastated world, after the winter hibernation. Gone are the trees, the forest and the soft moss. Instead, another kind of landscape spreads. One of stone, house facades, city streets and crossing points. Everything is up and down in the new. A fox runs his kid in a stroller, a wild boar is riding groceries, the crows float forward with the help of technical maniches and the moose go on two legs!
Times should be suited, everything should be allowed.
The days go by. All while the memories of what was once slow fading. But does it have to be so? And do you have to do like everyone else? Is change and progress always good? Lisa Moroni asks her questions between the lines, but always leaves the reader to come up with the answers.
