German artist ATAK presents a carnivalesque theme of power negotiation in this representation of an upside down world. The banker begs on the street corner while the punk hands over spare change; the mouse chases the cat; a horse rides a jockey; a team of firefighters fight a flood with fire. The picturebook invites children and teenagers to think about social hierarchy and cultural norms — what do we expect? What would surprise us? How would this book be different if we were the authors? The role of carnival — the mundus operandi — is important to the connections humans make as they move around the world: an introduction to it through this work will provide a great springboard for children to create their own comparable cultural artefacts.
