Gro Dahle og Kaia Linnea Dahle Nyhus

Inga has seen photographs of the war in the newspaper and heard the sound of bombs and gunshots on television. Luckily Inga lives in a peaceful country: "Where not even the bumblebees present a threat." But then the war creeps into the house, not the war Inga has seen on the television and in the newspapers, but another war; Mum and Dad's war. Inga gets so tired of being a refugee between two homes, taking responsibility for her younger brothers, that things are about to go seriously wrong. Luckily Mum and Dad see it in time, and slowly peace moves in to Inga. "Because that's it. Peace comes, gently, cautiously, almost without saying anything, almost without anyone seeing it, peace comes."

Gro Dahle's text takes children seriously. The writer has a unique ability to see the world from the child's point of view. She makes a bad situation tangible and real for us, without it becoming trite pedagogy.  She uses the war metaphors to give Inga a language, to underline the seriousness of how onorous life can be for some children in a conflict situation. The slow end without any happy, bright conclusion, makes this story convincing.

Kaia Dahle Nyhus uses her own expressive and bold visual language to tell Inga's story. She has chosen to steer away from war metaphors. The pictures are strong and crass, naive and full of contrast. They are saturated with colour, as they are also saturated with feeling.  The choice of colours is original and dramatic.

Gro Dahle's stark, lyrical prose and Kaia Dahle Nyhus’ evocative illustrations make Krigen (The War) a powerful reading experience. The reader feels intensely present in the girl Inga's war-torn life.

The book has come about through close co-operation with two family welfare centres and is based on children's words and stories from their daily lives.

Gro Dahle (born 1962) has written a number of books, poems, short stories, novels and drama for adults and children. She has won a number of literary prizes, amongst others the Brage Prize for Best Children's Book 2002, the Ministry of Culture's Literature Prize for Children and Young Adults in 2004.

Kaia Linnea Dahle Nyhus (born 1990) is a qualified illustrator and has previously illustrated two of Gro Dahle's books. In 2011 she won the Ministry of Culture's Illustration Prize.

The book was nominated for the Critics Prize for the book year 2013.