Maria Vilja
The Nordic summer is so longed-for and precious that every beautiful day should be filled with happiness. Many people can relate to this pressure, and the awareness of how few of these days there might be runs deep across generations. Maria Vilja’s picture book Kesän ainoa kaunis päivä (in English: “The only beautiful day of the summer”) tells the story of how the emotional weight placed on a single day causes a mother and her two children to lose their grip. They go on an outing to an island, but the moments of joy only sparkle fleetingly on the page, just to turn into outbursts of disappointment and recovery on the next page. In the end, it’s the mother who erupts most, breaking down into screaming tears in the midst of the summer idyll, blurting out the worst thing imaginable: she wants new children.
Maria Vilja skilfully uses the picture book form to build the arc of the outing – from the chaos of packing, to the frantic sprint to catch the ferry, to dragging all their stuff onto the island, the children’s bickering, and the peaceful moments, the beauty and joy that still exist amidst all of it. In the illustrations, perspectives vary, and full-page spreads alternate with sequences of smaller images. In the text, the author deftly shifts the point of view between the three characters, portraying each as distinctive, believable individuals. Words and images interact seamlessly and show in a humorous and touching way how both the children and the adult try to keep it together, but are not always able to do so. The sweet early summer radiates from the illustrations, creating both happiness and a sense of obligation to experience it to the fullest. A watching eye in the story is the camera used to immortalise the happy moments.
The spreads in Vilja’s book alternate between depictions of early summer light and the island’s green nature with darting wagtails, and darker, red-hued scenes clouded by feelings of disappointment. The mother is the one who most vividly experiences these emotions. Maria Vilja portrays, without any filter, how terrifying a mother’s face can become – and how small the children seem in those moments – or how sorrowful she looks when asking her children for forgiveness. The mother’s orange-red skirt glows throughout the book as a powerful symbol of both the warmth of love and the unpredictable threat that, with a flash, can wipe away happiness. Yet even when she’s angry, the children crawl under her skirt as if into a tent – seeking shelter and safety.
Maria Vilja portrays her characters and their relationships in a uniquely physical and striking way, at once full of humour and emotional truth. Disappointment distorts the face and affects the whole body – but so do eagerness and joy, or the exhaustion of enduring screams and sighs. “Mummy’s legs looked tired and chubby,” notes one of the children seeking calm beneath her skirt. And when the outburst is over, the final spread is filled with one of the most beautiful hugs a picture book can offer. Maria Vilja’s picture book grows into a story larger than itself – about the unpredictability of human emotion, forgiveness, and how painful and beautiful a typically rare summer day can be.
Maria Vilja (born in 1986) is an illustrator, art educator, and social worker. In her previous picture books, she has portrayed the everyday life of a hypersensitive child. Kesän ainoa kaunis päivä is her third picture book.