The Bulgarian picture book When I Want to Be Silent by author Zornitsa Hristova and artist Kiril Zlatkov uses spare, poetic text (translated by Angela Rodel) and a series of sublime grayscale illustrations to create a remarkably effective meditation on words and silence.
An introspective bear peeks out from the book's gutter to speak directly to readers: "When I was little,/ grown-ups showed me words,/ so I'd have somewhere/ to put my things." Zlatkov introduces a fantastical, whimsical element with floating foods, boxes, and jars standing in for said "things." The bear admits "I like words" but notes, while despairingly bent over a book, that "not everything fits in them." There's no room, for example, "for someone's dream you're trying to hear"; for music (as depicted by the spread of a magnificently rendered bird's open beak); for light; "and for some other things, too." The bear knows words are supposed to make a person stronger, but they're afraid they might "hide something important in them and never find it again." So, the bear wisely insists, "Listen to me/ when I am silent,/ and you'll hear it."
Hristova and Zlatkov have created an earnest work with a vast message that is perhaps best suited for older children. The gentle text is heartfelt, and the graceful black-and-white illustrations are detailed and realistic. It's the elements of fantasy in the exquisite art, though, that allow the limitless nature of the imaginations depicted to seem real. When I Want to Be Silent begs readers to listen beyond words and is a title worthy of quiet, dreamy contemplation. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author