The catalogue “Books from Turkey” consists of a collection of texts ...

0 3 6
B O O K S F R O M T U R K E Y
5 ÇOCUK 5 İSTANBUL
5 CHILDREN 5 ISTANBUL
Elf Publishing, Georgia
Translated by Tamar Alpenidze
B E T Ü L S A Y I N
32 pages, Children’s Book, Short Story
ISBN: 9756227087
info@gunisigikitapligi.com,
hande@gunisigikitapligi.com
Betül Sayın was born in Istanbul in 1958 and graduated from the Department
of Architecture at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts. She has been working as a
professional illustrator since 1989. She has illustrated and prepared numerous
children’s books and children’s magazines and some of her works have been
published as UNICEF greeting cards. Sayın’s latest book 5 Çocuk 5 İstanbul (5
Children 5 Istanbuls) featured on the International Board On Books for Young
People (IBBY) Honours List in 2006 in the illustration category. The illustrator, who
manages to take children on a trip into a dream world with her magical artwork,
lives in Istanbul with her husband and daughter.
Foreign Rights: 5 Çocuk 5 İstanbul/5 Children 5 Istanbuls (Elf Publishing, Georgia),
(Edition Orient, Germany)
Written and illustrated by Betül Sayın, the
book depicts the story of pre-school children in
Istanbul. The author relates the five different eras
of Istanbul through five different characters. The
colourful pictures and the unique structure of
the book, which begins in the present and looks
backwards to prehistoric times, offer children
a unique reading and learning experience.
Mert who lives in a crowded neighbourhood of
present day Istanbul visits his ill grandmother.
In his grandmother’s attic, he finds a fez which
belongs to Hamdi who had lived in Ottoman
Istanbul... Anxious to go to festivities held for the
Ottoman Sultan, Hamdi finds a mirror decorated
with purple stones in the Covered Bazaar when
he goes there with his sister. The purple mirror
belongs to Helen who had lived in the Byzantine
era... An old coin sold in a shop catches the
attention of Helen who goes to watch the races at
the Hippodrome with her family. The coin bearing
the figure of a fish belongs to Milya who helps
his grandfather, a fisherman in Byzantion... The
boat of Milya and his grandfather is filled with
the fish they have caught. On the way back from
the ceremony held at the temple, Milya finds an
old piece of ceramic pottery on the street, a piece
from a dish made by the mother of the Girl-witha-Bone-Hairpin,
who lives in a cave near Istanbul
in prehistoric times.