Written by Jurga Vilė
Illustrated by Lina Itagaki

Jurga Vilė (left) and Lina Itagaki
Photo by Giedrius BagaliūnasISBN 978-609-8120-318
Published: 2017 December
Publisher: Aukso žuvys
Hardcover | 240 pp | 17 x 23 cm
9+

This book is based on a true story. More precisely, it is the story of Jurga Vile’s father, Algis, who was deported to Siberia as a child. He was called Algiukas (little Algis) then.

One early morning in June 1941, Algiukas and his family are woken up by angry Russian soldiers ordering them to prepare to leave. The boy, who is around eight, his mother, father, and big sister do not know where they will be sent and for how long. They have ten minutes to get ready. Algiukas takes his friend, Martynas the Goose. Martynas the Goose hides Algiukas’s family photo album under his wing. Algiukas’s dad takes a bucket of apples. That morning, many Lithuanian families experience the same frightening situation. At the train station, the men are separated from their families. Algiukas’s dad gives him the apples, telling him to treasure them because they are Lithuanian. A postwoman brings some paper and pencils to them. This will enable them to write letters. Algiukas’s aunt Petronėlė takes a book of Japanese haiku poems with her. In exile, she inspires the deportees not to succumb to despair and to see the beautiful side of life even in the gloomiest circumstances.

Main prize in Book Art contest 2017 | Best book of the Year by IBBY Lithuania 2017 | Best illustrations for children book by IBBY Lithuania 2017 | The Aloyzas Petrikas literary prize