Ann’s Dwarves
A Fairy Tale
For Children of 9 to 99
By Kalina Stefanova
An extraordinary journey in the course of which magic becomes reality and reality
acquires magical dimensions.
A game devoid of violence and fear – a game in which the good news is news and
the world doesn’t end at our fingertips.
A fantastic guide for discovering faith, hope and love – not somewhereelse, but
withinourselves.
The surprising Bulgarian bestseller, by theater critic Kalina Stefanova, Ann’s Dwarves is a delightful venture into storytelling that is sure to awaken the spirit and soothe the soul.
Crossing genres in a spirit of enthusiasm and adventure, the book is a magical testimony to the spiritual power that exists within each of us—a gentle and inspiring reminder of the “dwarves” within each of us that can be mastered. Compared to Antoine de Saint Exupery, Stefanova seems to have the same ability to express the inexpressible. Her narrative is as full of meaning between the lines as the words themselves.
Like all good fairy tales, Ann’s Dwarves is a tale of the inner life. Filled with childlike wonder, the author has revealed some of her most cherished flights of imagination. And in so doing, she touches a spark of universal understanding in us all.
Now in its third printing in Bulgaria, the book has received international attention and media exposure. Ongoing critical acclaim for the book and its author points to the fact that Ann’s Dwarves may well be a new classic in the making.
“…not an ordinary book…It’s part game, part philosophy. It’s a story full of goodness—one that will be shared for years to come…”
In her new book Kalina Stefanova tells an extraordinary modern fairy tale in which the Earth, fortunately, is not the devastated by disasters and wars place that we know from the news. The most valuable thing in Ann’s Dwarves is that the book delves deep into the spiritual essence of human nature by the means of the fairy tale—that infinite universe dwelled in by the Little Prince and wandered around by Alice. Like them, the main characters here also belong to the world of magic: seven charming dwarves who Ann names after the seven musical notes. “We, dwarves, are a part of you. We are your inner "mirrors"—truer than ordinary ones, because by looking at us you are able to see what's inside you, not only what's on the surface,” says one of the miniature characters. Kalina Stefanova’s book manages to do exactly that: it gets under the surface of the visible reality in order to reach out to the “things within us”, because it’s there where one can find the three most important “things” everyone is in need of—love, faith and hope.”
Mario Nikolov, Week & ; DNEVNIK’s weekly supplement for culture
“There’s no doubt that the author of this fairy tale comes from the kin of the Little Prince; that she has managed to preserve the child in herself; that she has been brave enough to tell many most cherished personal things about herself and her inner life….”
“She doesn’t live with “rose spectacles” on, she’s well acquainted with the dark side of the suffering and ordeal, but she prefers to accumulate “sun energy”, brought to her by her tireless dwarves, so that she could cure all spiritual maladies of our complex and confused time…”
Georgi Tsankov, literary critic
“When I read her last theatre book, I expressed my admiration like this: “You have to write a novel; your imagination has no limits”… Now the story told by Kalina Stefanova lives in my mind as a splendid colorful film of fantasy; film in which we all are simultaneously actors and spectators; film that we so much need because love and harmony are the pledge of (guarantee for) our ineradicable humanity.”…
AZBUKI weekly
“Poetic and joyful story, cinematographic, captivating us with the panache of the author’s imagination; a voyage into the world of love and beauty; coming from an author who will never part with the child in herself but has managed to combine this with the wisdom of experience.” …
ALL FOR THE WOMAN weekly
“This book is a gift to all of us who yearn for warmth and reciprocity of feelings.”
National TV show WHISPER AND SHOUT
“This original book comes as a peculiar “continuation” of The Little Prince, only this time the author is a woman and the main characters are dwarves.”…
IN THE HOURS OF THE BLUE MIST, National Darik Radio
ALONG THE LABYRINTHS OF THE FORGOTTEN CHILDHOOD
(A FAIRY TALE FOR GROWN-UPS AND FOR GROWN UP DWARVES)
Ann’s Dwarves is a really surprising book. We all know Kalina Stefanova first of all as a theatre critic and this detour in the direction of the magical-poetic-philosophical prose would amaze many. Not necessarily, though. You need to have read at least one book by Kalina Stefanova to know that she has a talent to write about things she loves, and with unadulterated child’s enthusiasm at that. Maybe it’s exactly this that we need to erase the borders between the genres and simply to embark on an adventure.
Naturally, we live in hard times. In constant fear of nuclear catastrophe, Third World War, crazy neighbors, bureaucracy and dark institutions, terrorist attacks, maladies, death… and, in the end, of ourselves. In this context many people would look with skepticism and a cynical smile at such a work of art that is as if beyond all these fears—there’s no violence in it, no murders, perversions, gossipy tit-bits or at least a minimal dose of cunning. They would consider it naïve and utopian, apart from the Big issues of the real life and of the Big arguments between the different literary Schools and Trends.
Well, dear reader, in the most sincere fashion, we’d like to inform you that literature could be written like this as well. Yes, in the 21’st century! Not that many do it, yet there are a few. Of course, every writer must have just one such a book, so that they don’t turn into another Richard Bach, repeating one and the same for 20 years, or even worse—into another Paulo Coelho. Thank God, such a danger doesn’t exist here since this book is more of a revelation having dawned on a writer who otherwise writes a different sort of books.
Only good things could be said about the book itself. Reading it, one has the feeling that it’s written by a very close relative of Antoine de Saint Exupery. For instance, by someone with whom Exupery got together a lot and they totally shared their views about life’s main values.
As for the dwarves, it goes without saying: we all have seven of them, although sometimes it’s hard to say whether they are our dwarves or we are their people. Of course, there are homeless dwarves as well—people sometimes lose themselves and in this way they lose their most cherished inner essence… Furthermore: this book is not an escape into the childhood; it’s rather a means to learn how to live by building up on the experience gained during the childhood. After you read it, you may never be able to look at the Brussels sprouts, hotel soaps, the Puerto Rican coqui frogs and the small plastic containers of creams for coffee in another way but a dwarves’ one.
Tsvetan Tsvetanov
MONITOR
First responses from Korea:
The book has been featured in the major papers, magazines and TV stations.
It was the special choice of the Editor-in-chiefof Chosun Daily (the biggest Korean daily newspaper with a daily circulation of 2.38 million copies), in hissection: ‘Hot Topic in Culture: Editor-in-chief Kim Gwang-il, Man Who Reads Books for You’ (Nov.29, 2007)
The book has received an overwhelming rave response in the major sites/blogs in Korea, garnering four and five star reader reviews. In the two top sites only the reviews are nearly 40 for the first month and a half. Here are some excerpts:
Yes 24. Screen Name: This is Alice
“Cute Seven Dwarves”
I should keep this book near me so that I will be able to open and read it whenever I feel down and wish to meet the seven dwarves. This book is a good way to keep a child’s heart in me.
Yes 24. Screen Name: Sooning
“Meeting a Little Me”
When I first started reading the book, I overlooked what’s in the illustrations that were between the pages. However, I started to notice the dwarves in the illustrations when I was almost finished the book. I looked at the illustrations from the beginning again after I finished, and I realized the dwarves had been there, in all those illustrations! It was really funny that I could see the little things that I hadn’t noticed before only after I had finished book. It was as if I suddenly became a person who could see dwarves…..
Yes 24.
This story makes me realize very important values. We have to give space to the dwarves in our mind and life. In that way we could find our own purity.
Aladdin.
The kind of thinking the book sets us on makes the world warm.