amusement park trilogy
The Amusement Park trilogy, in the best traditions of philosophical children's literature, addresses life's big questions: How to live with others? What is time? How to become happy?
The books in Timo Parvela and Virpi Talvitie's beloved and award-winning trilogy have been translated into over 20 languages and have been particularly popular in Asia.
The Seesaw
The other end of the seesaw is empty. On the other end, Pi is waiting for a friend to seesaw with, in vain. Pi is scribbling in his notebook: ‘You can’t seesaw when there’s no one on the other end’. When a huge tree crashes on the seesaw, the little bear Pi is propelled into space. Pi grabs the crescent of moon and is told that Moon and Sun always seesaw together.
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On his journey, Pi meets all kinds of creatures and finds out that in life, too, you go up and down.
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Every child has a lonely bear inside, so it’s easy to relate to Pi’s story. With a delicate touch, Timo Parvela brings up familiar feelings. The lovely illustrations by Virpi Talvitie support the story and feed the reader’s imagination.
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The Seesaw was awarded the national Finlandia Junior Prize for the best children’s title in Finland in 2006.
The Merry-Go-Round
The most precious birthday present is time.
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The merry-go-round isn’t spinning. Time isn’t passing. The little poofies sit up straight on the animals? backs and wait for the music to start, for the spinning and the fun to begin. Kettle, the littlest poofie of all, the one who never gets to ride on the merry-go-round, sighs and waits.
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‘I wish time would pass more quickly. How I wish I was already big…’
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A child’s time is in the hands of adults, and little Kettle has learned that children shouldn’t waste older people’s time.
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Writer Timo Parvela and illustrator Virpi Talvitie, winners of the 2006 Finlandia Junior Prize for The Seesaw, have seized on something important: a child needs time with adults. The Merry-go-round measures time as children experience it, and as friends experience it: ‘Time is different with friends. With a friend, a second flies by, and you don’t even notice it. A day passes, and evening comes too quickly. In a week’s time, you can wonder many times over at the fact that you’ve found a friend. In a month, there’s time to get into a fight and make up again.’​
The Wheel of Fortune
“Luck, come see me. I have a surprise for you. – Kettle”.
The message in the bottle sent by Kettle is touchingly brief: Kettle is both looking for happiness and hoping to make his friend happy.
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But will Galoot notice the bottle floating by? Will Gragle be brave enough to carry the bottle in its beak to the shore? Does a child have the faith to pursue a dream that seems unlikely to come true?
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The light of friendship illuminates Parvela’s philosophical story. Once again, the author presents important themes we all must face in life: pursuit of happiness, sorrow, loneliness, and giving and receiving. As a story-teller, Timo Parvela is masterfully natural, as a wordsmith playfully clever, prolific and fun. When the story is complemented by Virpi Talvitie’s delicate, dreamlike illustrations, the result makes the reader chuckle with delight.
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Parvela knows how to write engagingly for young readers who read little or avoid books. There is nothing superfluous, and the plot never stalls for a moment.
Barnboksrat.se Sweden
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A clever, touchingly funny story of a friendship
Ostthüringer Zeitung
Germany
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The author has succeeded in writing a truly heart-warming and wise story of friendship that addresses some fundamental life issues.
A highly recommended book.