Vaclovas Kosciuška, Jolita Liškevičienė. Du gaideliai (Two Little Roosters), Vilnius: Alma littera, 2025. – 24 p.

Two Little Roosters is one of the most popular Lithuanian folk songs for children about hardworking animals. It tells the story of what happens to peas before they are turned into flour and cooked into porridge or baked into pancakes. A whole group of animals joins in the work – roosters, hens, a goat, a she-goat, little goats, a fly, and a mosquito – and in the end even the sun and the moon take part.

The picture book Two Little Roosters, illustrated by Kosciuška, was first published in 1949. Today it is considered a classic of Lithuanian children’s literature and an excellent example of a traditional picture book. The reader’s eye is drawn to the somewhat romanticised pastel-coloured images created in gouache and watercolour. The illustrations are rich in detail of common rural life and reflect ethnographic distinctiveness (for example, the sun is depicted as a fair-haired Lithuanian girl wearing a necklace of beads, while its rays resemble folk ornaments). The animals and celestial bodies in the illustrations are anthropomorphised, and some of them are placed within a domestic setting. The subtle colour palette of the illustrations radiates a tranquility. At the end of the book the musical notation of the song Two Little Roosters is provided. The book concludes with an afterword by the art historian Liškevičienė introducing Kosciuška’s biography, the particular features of his artistic work, the place of Two Little Roosters in the history of Lithuanian children’s books, and the artistic qualities of the publication.

Vaclovas Kosciuška (1911–1984) was a painter and graphic artist best known as an illustrator of children’s books. He graduated from the Kaunas School of Art, continued his studies in Paris, and later taught at the Vilnius Art Institute and Vilnius University. He was participating in numerous exhibitions since 1940. He mostly illustrated folklore-based books (folk songs and fairy tales) or children’s books closely connected with folklore. His works are characterised by pastel colours, a realistic style of drawing, and a strong sense of narrative.

Jolita Liškevičienė (b. 1970) is an art historian, a specialist in the art of early printed books and children’s book illustration, as well as an art expert and curator of exhibitions and events. She works at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Contact for rights: d.sinkeviciute@almalittera.lt