The Coolest Kids in the World

“There are people who are cool. For example, Markus. The football ball obeys him better than anyone, and he has a dimple on his left cheek and exciting laughter. And Cornelia is one of the cool ones too. She has long, silky hair, and she moves as if she is on stage even when going to the toilet. And there are those who are even cooler! Like us. Helena, Alfred, Ivan, and me. We are so cool that no one has realized it yet. But it’s just a matter of time. At least that’s what Helena says.”
Meet the coolest kids in the world! Unstoppable Helena. The handsome yet dim-witted Ivan. The perfect Alfred. And the very boring storyteller, whom we cannot name (because she thinks it's the dumbest name in the world). And this book is about them!
Maja Lunde is the author of the book “The Coolest Kids in the World. The Scary Stage”. She lives in Oslo with her husband and three children. When Maja was little, she resembled Bjerg. Maja also liked to paint, read thick books, and she didn’t feel like the coolest kid in the world at all. When Maja isn’t writing a new book, she writes scripts for children’s as well as adult television shows.
Hanne Sigbjærnsen is the illustrator of the book “The Coolest Kids in the World. The Scary Stage”. Her creative pseudonym is Tegnehanne, which translates to Drawing Hanne. It can be said that Hanne grew up with a pencil in her hand!
Growing up, Hanne created her own drawing and comic blog, and in 2012 she received the award for “Blogger of the Year”! Her comics are published in Norway’s largest newspaper “Aftenposten”, and in 2015 Hanne received the Pondus award for Best Comic of the Year.
The translator Inga Bērziņa was born in Latvia, but now lives in Norway with her family and works as a Norwegian language teacher.
Until now, Inga has only translated books for adults from Norwegian, Danish, Old Icelandic, and Icelandic into Latvian, and she has also translated Nora Ikstena's novel “Celebration of Life” into Norwegian. Inga had long promised her children to one day translate a children’s book as well, and here it is – “The Coolest Kids in the World. The Scary Stage.”!
Tegnehanne's drawings.
Translated from Norwegian by Inga Bērziņa.