Maranke Rinck and Martijn van der Linden
I Can Feel a Foot!
Maranke Rinck and Martijn van der Linden’s new picture book is based on a classic oriental legend. Tortoise, Bat, Octopus, Bird and Goat are sleeping in their hammock high above the ground. Suddenly they hear a sound – something is rustling in the pitch-black night. The animals go to investigate and each of them thinks they can feel something different, as they all see things from their own point of view. So they’re very surprised when the mysterious rustling turns out to be not a terribly big tortoise or a gigantic goat, but just an elephant.
Rinck tells the story in simple, rhythmic sentences in which every word counts. Van der Linden has designed each of his brightly coloured characters with a different pattern: Tortoise’s shell looks like a Mediterranean mosaic and Bird seems to be made of different scraps of fabric. The cutout animals are stuck against a black background, which provides a fine backdrop for their nighttime adventure and throws the characters’ exuberant splashes of colour into sharp relief.
Rinck and Van der Linden have previously worked together on Het prinsenkind (The Prince Child) and Meisjes om te zoenen (The Sweetest Kiss). The refreshingly different style of Ik voel een voet! (I Can Feel a Foot!) shows that they can turn their hands to a variety of styles.
This picture book is also published in a tactile edition for blind and partially sighted children, in which all the animals are made of real material.
- Ik voel een voet! won the American Parent’s Choice Award 2008 in the category Picture Books.
