Kaia Dahle Nyhus

In Det som finnes og det som er borte (in English: “What exists and what is gone”), we meet a family experiencing war, displacement, and a new beginning in a foreign land.   

On the first spread, we see a child sitting on the steps outside their home in their native country. Life here is familiar and good. “There’s a cat on the steps. And a secret drawer of chocolate under the bed.” The child is surrounded by safety – doves in the wind, sunflowers in bloom. The colours are warm and inviting. 

But when the reader turns the page, gravity sets in. Dad has to go off to war. Mum and child must flee the country. From this point on, the tone of both the illustrations and the text shifts. A sense of unease and detachment permeates the visual language, leaving the reader with a constant feeling of discomfort. The illustrations are stark and angular, with minimal use of colour. It’s particularly painful to see how mother and child maintain neither eye nor physical contact throughout the entire journey. The language is monotonous, rhythmic, and reinforces the tension: “There’s no daddy here./ There’s no cat on the steps./ There’s a man who asks/ if my name is really my name.”   

Dahle Nyhus takes the child seriously, and she has a unique ability to view the world from a child’s perspective. The narrative is easy to follow, and the child’s presence is strongly felt. This makes it all the more relieving when the new country brings a glimmer of hope. Even if everything is unfamiliar, there’s a drink that tastes just like home, and a cat that might want to play. On the final spread, the child is sitting in their mother’s lap. “There’s a mum who might be happy. There’s a phone with dad’s voice.”  

Det som finnes og det som er borte is a powerful picture book about something many children have experienced or heard about. It’s a book that addresses an important theme in a direct yet poetic way. The illustrations capture the mood of the book with quiet sensitivity, portraying war without being overly explicit. 

Kaia Dahle Nyhus (born in 1990) is an award-winning author and illustrator. She made her debut with her own book in 2014 and has since published several picture books. In just a few years, she has established herself as one of our most important picture book creators.