Little Sleepy Star

Podrobnosti

Starting out as a hugely successful radio play in 1952 (still one of the most popular children’s audiobooks), continuing as a puppet show (translated into several languages and staged throughout then Yugoslavia, in Russia, Poland, Germany, the Czech republic, Switzerland, Italy, even Chile and Canada), the legendary Little Sleepy Star finally appeared in book form in 1993, with illustrations by Gorazd Vahen. When night falls, the stars go to work, showing the way to travellers, inspiring poets… Except for the Little Sleepy Star who is always late. But the absence of a star in the sky causes strange things to happen on Earth… In order to punish her and teach her responsibility, Uncle Moon sends her to Earth. Before she can return to the sky, she will have to experience the difficulties of life down here, learn that nothing is to be had without money and teach a terrible brigand with a stone instead of a heart to spell the word “dear” so he can write to his mother. As all good fairy tales do, Little Sleepy Star gives direct but unintrusive lessons on values such as responsibility, love and acceptance. The poetry and warm humour suffusing the text have bewitched generations of Slovenian children for over half of a century.

Frane Milčinski - Ježek (1914-88), actor, director, author of screen and radio plays (co-screenwriter of Kekec, which received the Golden Lion in the Children’s Film category at the Venice Film Festival in 1952), singer, poet and writer, was one of the most prominent media personalities in Slovenia and without a doubt Slovenia’s greatest humorist and satirist. He received numerous awards for his work, including the Prešeren award (the most prestigious Slovenian award for the arts) for lifetime achievements in 1975. In spite of Ježek’s great popularity, his work has become widely available only in the last ten years, with the release of CDs, audiobooks and books of his short stories, poems and children’s stories by Sanje.

Gorazd Vahen graduated in design from Ljubljana Academy of Arts. His illustrations appear in picture books, textbooks and on book covers. His credentials include a series of works by Terry Pratchett and several picture books based on texts by the distinguished Slovenian author of works for children, Svetlana Makarovicˇ. He also designs puppets for the theatre.

Odlomek

Moj literarni otrok Zvezdica Zaspanka je naredil to, kar naredi toliko in toliko otrok, ko malo dorastejo: ušla mi je z doma. Igrali so jo po vseh jugoslovanskih lutkovnih gledališčih, pa še v Rusiji, kjer je bila objavljena tudi v almanahu najboljših lutkovnih iger, potem na Poljskem, v Nemčiji, na Češkem, v Švici, v Trstu, pa v Čilu in Kanadi. Upam, da ta moja Zaspanka na poti po širnem svetu daje otrokom, kamor že pride, dovolj veselja, saj imam vse otroke tega sveta rad, kot bi bili moji.

Frane Milčinski - Ježek

Medijski odzivi

Vahen je po Ježkovem navdihu ustvaril enega najprisrčnejših likov, kar jih poznamo v otroški literaturi.

"... knjiga vsekakor mora doseči tudi tuje bralce, saj ima magičnost Malega princa."
- Ksenija Leban

"Brezčasna zgodba o zvedavi zvezdici, ki premaga strah in se z dobrim delom na zemlji odkupi za svojo nagajivost na nebu, v sebi nosi toliko vrednot, še kako pomembnih in aktualnih za današnji "ponoreli" svet."

- Nika Logar, festival Sanje

"... med vsemi zvezdami mi je vendarle najljubša Zvezdica Zaspanka. Ja, tista domišljavka, ki je stara komaj tri milijone let in je rada zamujala v svojo službo na nebu. Zato jo je boter Mesec za kazen poslal na Zemljo. Seveda je pri tem čisto mimogrede spreobrnila razbojnika, da mu je v srcu namesto kamna začelo biti srce."
- Irena Cerar, National Geographic Junior

"... prepričljivo prenaša živo in spodbudno Ježkovo sporočilo o odrešilni ljubezni, ki edina zmore v razbojniku Ceferinu obuditi srce ter ponovno povrniti na zemljo in med zvezde harmonijo in red. Prenaša pa tudi sporočilo o vrhunski slovenski literaturi ..."
- Slavko Pezdir, Delo

"Frane Milčinski Ježek ni veliko pisal za otroke, kar pa je, je ostalo živo praktično do danes. Eden takšnih biserov je tudi Zvezdica Zaspanka ..."
- Polet

"Kaj nam torej sporoča Zvezdica Zaspankač Naj verjamemo neznancemč Da lahko hudobneža popravi tisti, ki ima čisto srceč Ali pa le, da moramo zjutraj vstajati pravočasno, ker nas bodo drugače poslali na zemljoč Ampak mi smo že na zemlji. In tudi tisti redki, ki bodo kdaj obiskali vesolje, se bodo kmalu vrnili nazaj na tla. Verjetno je naše mesto prav tu na zemlji, če zamujamo ali ne, in mesto zvezd je tam gori na nebu. In je Zvezdica Zaspanka le lepa zgodba. Na srečo obstajajo ljudje, ki nam včasih domov pripeljejo kakšno zgodbo o zvezdi, Zvezdici Zaspanki. Eden takšnih je bil Fran Milčinski Ježek."
- Petja Grafenauer, Radio Študent