In front of the house there was a garden.
In front of this garden there was a tree.
The tree was very big.
It was the favourite tree of the terrible child


The child spent hours perched on a big tree. From the window his mother would shout to him: You are a terrible child! He heard this every day of the year, so much so that he forgot his own name. But one day in May, the enfant terrible found a little bird's egg in the tree top... When we try to define our identity, our own name helps to answer the questions: who am I? who are we? The absence of a name, as in the case of the hero of this story, implies a change of identity, existing only through a pejorative adjective that others use to think of him. The terrible child receives only reproaches and discovers affection only when he observes mothers treating their children with love. The terrible child then becomes aware of an affection that he had never felt was a primary need, essential for his survival. A timeless book that gives food for thought about the importance of affection and highlights details that often go unnoticed, yet contribute to the construction of an individual's personality.
By playing with a bi-chromaticism of blacks and reds, Susanne Janssen presents us with a very particular narrative imagination with shortcuts and improbable perspectives. The illustrator works in detail on the psychology of the characters, combining hardness and softness in the faces, whose looks are of paramount importance. Without doubt, a plastic work of great impact and expressive force, which does not leave the viewer indifferent.