Mila often gets lost in her thoughts about animals and doesn't pay attention. Peter is too small for his age and cannot sleep because he is afraid of everything. Katka is overweight and would rather just read detective stories. Franta was born with bad legs, he walks on crutches and everyone feels sorry for him. Four children who are strange to others, have no friends and their parents don't listen to them very much. By chance, they become friends and decide to embark on a great adventure: to run away from home.
Petra Soukupová has succeeded in describing the inner world of children in a believable way. Each chapter is written from the point of view of one of the gang, giving the reader a glimpse of what goes on in the mind of each of them. The book is divided into chapters that are from the point of view of all the characters. Thus, we find that all the heroes have functional and caring families. None of the families carry significant trauma; the difficulties that plague the children stem from minor misunderstandings, not a lack of love. This makes it all the more easy to identify with the characters and understand their feelings and sorrows.
A story intended for children is in many ways also beneficial for parents. What seems like a nonsensical whim to parents may have a much deeper rationale. Why does Kate overreact to every incentive to play sports? Or why is Peter so opposed to going away to an outdoor school? Petra Soukupová very sensitively brings a child's view of the world to the page, which evokes a sense of nostalgia and understanding in adults, and children may recognise themselves or friends in some of the characters.
The development of the characters is absolutely central to the story, but the attentive reader will not miss the fact that Petr stops being scared all of a sudden, Katka suddenly doesn't have such a problem walking around in the clothes she hates, and Mila shakes off her horrible experience with the bird surprisingly quickly. But maybe this just shows that adults don't understand children that well, because we were scared and worried too, and then it passed. Just like that, all of a sudden.
Josefína Báčová
SOUKUPOVÁ, Petra. Klub divných dětí. 3.vydání. Praha: Host, 2022.
The review was created at the Department of Journalism of FSV UK under the supervision of PhDr. Jana Čeňková, Ph.D.