Book title

They think we're small

 

Author

Julijana Matanović i Anka Dorić

 

Bibliographic information

• Publisher: Mozaik knjiga

• Year of release: 2014 (first edition: 2010)

• ISBN: 9789531408318

• Binding: Soft

• Width: 128

• Height: 190

• Pages: 208

Roman/Novel: fiction

Literature for children and young people

 

Links (adaptations, reviews, full texts etc.)

https://issuu.com/gorances/docs/one_misle_da_smo_male

http://www.vasezdravlje.com/obavijesti/opsirnije/530/

https://bib.irb.hr/prikazi-rad?rad=645620

 

Theme

A literary-scientific tale of  a mother and daughter and their struggle with cervical cancer.

 

Short summary

Fifteen-year-old Matija, the main character and narrator, lives with her grandmother Dorotea and mother Vjera in the urban center of Zagreb at the beginning of the 21st century and is on vital turning points such as the completion of elementary school, meeting her father, photographer Kristijan Tomic, and mother's illness. This is a story about the growing up of a girl in the company of two close women who raise her with care and each from her own point of view. The romance urban story is told in jargon and the addition to this novel are documented medical facts about human papillomavirus infections and cervical cancer.

Why is the story appropriate for the targeted groups of RSP readers (in accordance to Content development criteria)?

This literary-scientific story has a public health value because it is the first of its kind in contemporary domestic literature for young people. The authors of the book want to contribute to spreading true information and professional knowledge about the possibilities of preventing and treating HPV infection.

Target groups are primarily young populations and their parents and teachers. The aim is to alert the need to stop taboo-silence and stigmatize sexually transmitted diseases in general and to make true and valid information about this disease easily accessible to young people in a pedagogical, psychological and scientific-medical manner.

 

How are the distinguished readers' interests reflected in this book/story?

Although this literary-scientific story deals with HPV issues, readers' interest is also being gained in the issue of growing a new online generation that can be recognized in similar situations and prejudice of the society not only to sexually transmitted diseases but also to the way of educating a female population.

  

Why is this story motivational for the pupils?

A very unusual approach  to the literary text complemented by an educational medical booklet opens up the question of critical thinking and close reality.

 

Is there a historical, political, multi/inter cultural, migrant or similar context recognised in this book/story? If yes, indicate it briefly.

A contemporary context of a new generation of 15-year-olds in the 21st century, who are faced with serious life issues: the disease of parents and how aware and responsible they can deal with it is recognized in the story.

 

Is there a principle of inclusion reflected in this book/story and does it promote understanding of cultural diversities and heritage? Briefly indicate.

The very fact that the text deals with issues of sexually transmitted diseases, the protection and vaccinations opens up the principle of inclusion by which this stigmatized subject approaches pupils, parents and fellow workers who, with medical help, present medical and statistical data, thereby enabling the right to knowledge, protection and open mutual dialogue.