Three autumns, dozens of adventures, hundreds of interesting animals and plants, and one sick mother who lies weakened in bed. Mojenka captures (in the beginning) fifth-grader Magdalena, who has to come to terms with her mother's cancer together with her father and grandmother. The book is divided into three parts according to three consecutive autumns, during which not only the disease changes, but all the characters in the story. An honest, detailed and authentically written story is told by the main character herself, as if she were writing it in her diary. "She slept the whole afternoon, mom, one after the other, gradually slept more and more. For me, spring and summer merge into one long mother's sleep, one long day, tiptoeing around the bedroom." Magdalena, or Mojenka, is a rebel whom the child reader will fall in love with after only a few dozen pages; she is not afraid to go camping alone in the forest at night, free the animals from the breeding station or irritate the science teacher with her knowledge. She is sensitive and thinks a lot, she comes to terms with the disease in her successive stages through incomprehension, anger and sadness.
The overall weak dramatic nature of the text, the slow beginning of the story, and the suppressed plot in many parts at the expense of natural attractions can be problematic for a young reader. Mojenka is one of the books overgrown by nature: "I am at home in the forest, where there is moss, light and shadow in the branches, wet and dry and stony places, grasses and ferns, various animal tracks and droppings that a person can recognize..." Main heroine together with their mother, they love the forest, the variety of animals and animals, so the story is interwoven with interesting natural facts and descriptions of animals. The mother even explains the disease to Mojenka on the basis of natural phenomena. The story is complemented by many indeterminate collages from Andrea Tacheza's workshop, which fit the atmosphere of the story. Mojenka is definitely not an easy leisure book, but it carries a strong message that can help empathize and gradually come to terms with the situation (not only) for children who witness a serious illness of one of their parents.
Tatiana Piliarová
STEHLÍKOVÁ, Olga: Mojenka. Praha: Host, 2022.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.