Neringa Vaitkutė, Reda Tomingas. Odilės Pasaka (Odilė’s Tale), Vilnius: Aukso žuvys, 2025. – 248 p.

This magical fantasy novel tells the story of eleven-year-old Odilė, who enters a mysterious and dangerous underground world. The reader will recognise many fairy tale motifs, characters, and quests cleverly woven into the colourful narrative. Through a magical object – in this case, a chest discovered in a swamp – Odilė suddenly sinks through the earth and disappears. Her body and soul become separated. To break the curse and return home, she must overcome numerous obstacles. In the underground realm she meets Mother of Moss and becomes acquainted with Monas, a dangerous being capable of transforming into any shape, yet one who helps the girl during her perilous journey. Readers are enchanted not only by the images of monsters – the dragon, the terrifying giantess, and others – but also by fantastically beautiful landscapes such as moonlit fields and the dragon’s forest. The fairy tale has a traditional happy ending: Odilė escapes the evil spell that would have condemned her to remain a tree – a little linden. The book speaks about eternal values, one of which is the wonder of the fairy-tale world itself – limitless and full of creative possibilities. For this reason the author employs the narrative strategy of a story within a story. The book was selected as one of the most cinematic Lithuanian books of 2025.

Neringa Vaitkutė (b. 1974) is a well-known Lithuanian writer who writes for children and young adults, and a biology teacher. She made her debut as a children’s author in 2013 with the book Vaivorykščių arkos (Arches of Rainbows, 2013). Her Tamsos trilogija (The Darkness Trilogy) and Klampynių kronikos (The Swamptown Chronicles), as well as other books, have received critical acclaim and strong reader appreciation. Her work is known for its imagination, depiction of magical worlds, visuality, and the beauty and richness of the Lithuanian language. The author is a recipient of the Pranas Mašiotas Prize (2019), the Children’s Literature Prize (2020), the Martynas Vainilaitis Prize (2021), among others, and her books have repeatedly been included in the Book of the Year selections.

Reda Tomingas (Bartkutė) (b. 1979) is an animated film director and illustrator. Between 1999 and 2006 she studied experimental photography, academic drawing, painting, and graphic art in Denmark and Sweden, and in 2010 she obtained a BA in audiovisual art from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Her animated film Kaltė (Guilt) won the Grand Prize at the International Animated Film Festival in Lithuania (2013), received the Silver Crane Award (2013), and won Best Animated Film at the Leeds International Film Festival in the United Kingdom (2013). The artist has illustrated more than thirty books. The book Fotosintezė (Photosynthesis) by Tadas Karpavičius, which she illustrated, was nominated for unity of content and form (2019), while Daiva Čepauskaitė’s book Kaip Grikis berniuką augino (How Buckwheat Raised a Boy), which Reda also illustrated, received a diploma at the Book Art Competition (2023) and the Illustration of the Year Award (2024).

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