Jurga Vilė, Viltė Žumbakytė Haisch. Oseanas ir mama vėžlė (Ocean and the Mother Turtle), Vilnius: 700 eilučių, 2025. – 40 p.

This book by Jurga Vilė invites reflection. The author speaks poetically about life and death, grief, care for nature, and ecology. The subtlety of the text is enhanced by illustrator Viltė Žumbakytė Haisch’s gentle and profound pastel illustrations. The story begins with an introduction to the main characters: a rare turtle and a boy named Ocean, who has recently lost his mother. A turtle has eaten her ashes, which had been scattered into the ocean, and in this way the main character feels a close connection with the turtle. The boy lives with his father but remains attached to his deceased mother, to the rock she loved, and to her songs. 

When Ocean plays his mother’s lute on the rock, he hears the turtle singing. It reminds him of his mother, so he swims and plays with the turtle, gradually recovering psychologically. The book also raises the issues of pollution and consumerism: the boy’s father (like his late mother) works at a Turtle Hospital, where he treats these animals that have ingested plastic. 

Jurga Vilė (b. 1977) is a Lithuanian children’s writer and translator. After studying French philology at Vilnius University, she continued studies in visual arts and film archiving and restoration in Paris. She has worked as a film director’s assistant and festival coordinator and has written for cultural publications. She is the author of ten children’s books.  She has created ten children’s books (as the author of the text): Švelnumo fabrikėlis (The Tenderness Factory, 2018), Chameleono sapnai (Chameleon Dreams, 2021), Pulpas ir jo žalia koja (Pulpas and his Green Leg, 2021), Šuo, kuris išeina naktį (The Dog Who Goes for a Walk at Night, 2023), Kašalotų radijas (The Cachalot Radio, 2024), Mano draugas Hipokampas Unikornas (My Friend Hippocampus Unicorn, 2024), Džuljeta ir kino kaukai (Juliet and the Cinema Spirits, 2025), Mažoji Lu ir konfeti (Little Lu and Confetti, 2026). She is best known for the graphic novel Sibiro haiku (Siberian Haiku, 2017), which has been translated into fifteen languages and has received numerous prestigious awards. For adult audiences, she has also created the cinematic play Nukritę iš Mėnulio. Sapnas apie Oskarą Milašių ir kitus paukščius (Fallen from the Moon: A Dream about Oskar Milašius and Other Birds, 2021), the audiobook Juoda ranka (The Black Hand, 2022), and the comics book Meko sodas (Mekas’ Garden, 2024), about Jonas Mekas. Her work was selected among the most cinematic Lithuanian works of 2025 in the competition Knyga + kinas (Book + Cinema). 

Viltė Žumbakytė Haisch (b. 1993) is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Germany. In 2015, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino, Italy, under the Erasmus exchange programme. From 2018 to 2020, she studied for a Master’s degree in Graphic Arts at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. She organises solo and group exhibitions and leads educational workshops. The author illustrated Sigitas Geda’s book of poems for children Laiškų namelis (The Little House of Letters, 2022), which received the Domicelė Tarabildienė Prize for the most beautiful book of the year. 

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