The little red one
Kastor Publications | 2006 | Illustrations: Daniela Stamatiadi
Little Red loves red, which is why he wants it everywhere: on his clothes, in his food and in the color of his toys… Even his imaginary friend is a little Indian called Red Deer.
This is a brilliant book about the imagination of children, which paints life with its own colors.
The text is spare, playful, and humorous. It focuses on simple everyday instances that are constantly overturned by childish imagination and desire and where the quiet prose serves as a counterpoint to the intensity of the illustrations. Through deduction, insinuation and dialectic, and by avoiding unnecessary ornamental elements, the text creates its own internal, poetic space.
The illustrations, realistic with an element of the fantastic, are dominated by the color red. The sharp lines and diverse points of view create motion, action and intensity within the compositions, bringing them a step closer to absolute harmony with the explosive qualities of a child’s imagination, but also with the stimulating effects of the color red.
Critical Reviews
“The story of The Little Red One elevates the power of children’s imagination. Told through the eyes of an adorable, young boy who adores red and becomes the hero who introduces children to his imaginary friends intruding into real life. He introduces children to his friends, who are as real as childish “reality” can make them. Children who live with intensity through their imaginary worlds, who create Indians and make them their friends, who carry them with them wherever they go, even when their dad handles their propensity towards the imaginary without disheartening them, but also without promoting the absolute incorporation of the imaginary into the real.”
Apostolos Pappos, elniplex.com, 09/02/17
“This is a book for and about imagination that paints life in color. In a simple and clear, playful and humorous manner, the story focuses on the simple everyday incidents of life which our imagination makes… otherwise.”
Eleni Gkika, Ethnos tis Kyriakis newspaper, 29 October 2006
“I am presenting you with a tender, ingenious, pleasant little story, brilliantly written and illustrated in a book which is, in my opinion, one of the best published over the course of the last five years or so, for it is a book that could stand perfectly amongst world class publications abroad as well. It has all of the elements that are a passport to such a journey.”
Giannis S. Papadatos, Diavazo magazine, October 2006
“This spare and humorous text belongs to Makis Tsitas, who has been, for several years now, a steady presence in the field of children’s literature.”
Vasilis Pavlidis, Venetico magazine, September-October 2006
“Makis Tsitas has the talent to recreate small children’s obsessions and fantasies by weaving them harmoniously into quotidian, everyday activities. Daniela Stamatiadi’s lively illustrations complement the exciting story, contributing to the blending of the imaginary into the real world.”
Ithaca magazine, 24/09/06
“This is a fairy tale for young children by Makis Tsitas’s sensitive pen and with Daniela Stamatiadi’s striking brushstrokes.”
Fotis Chronopoulos, Eleftheros Typos tis Kyriakis newspaper, 23/07/06
“This is a humorous little story, spontaneous and original. We really liked The Little Red One, we loved his mischief and his Indian friend, we loved Red Deer who, without his father knowing and against his orders, accompanies them on their trip, sitting comfortably on the car-rack.”
Eleni Sarantiti, Eleftherotypia magazine, 07/07/06