A many-layered picture book story about peace that can be appreciated by readers of all ages is today’s very welcome offering.
What if one opponent in a duel simply keeps walking away? And in walking, step after step in a straight line, without turning around, begins to forget about the origin of the conflict as he moves from a cold, white impersonal landscape into more natural and colorful human environments, through a bustling city and into the quiet countryside, leaving anger far behind.
This 46-second book trailer gives a good idea of the 56-page book, The Duel: a story about peace (2024) / O Duelo (2022), written and illustrated by Inês Viegas Oliveira and translated from Portuguese by Rosa Churcher Clarke.
The book was developed as part of the Europe-wide “Every Story Matters” project and the 3-minute video below, narrated in Portuguese by Oliveira with English sub-titles, shows how it was created using a variety of materials: oil, pencils, felt pens, oil pastels, dry pastels, x-act, letraset, basically anything within reach. She talks about getting lost in the beauty of the world and that perhaps the best way to forgive others is to first forgive ourselves.
In the opening line, the protagonist addresses the “esteemed Mr. Rodin Rostov” — explaining, as he starts to walk away, how “your insults pierced and injured my ears, my eardrums, my heart, and places even deeper within me that you won’t find in any anatomy book” — hence the duel.
The Russian name and the “very far away and very cold” starting location evokes the fictional duel in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” (where Nikolai Rostov acts as the second for Pierre Bezukhov’s duel) — though contemporary young adults will probably associate a duel more with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (thanks to the popular musical).
As the back-to-back distance between them grows, he starts to wonder what Mr. Rostov might be feeling about the wind, the tightness of his boot laces, his last meal, how much time has passed, and even curiosity about his rapidly departing opponent.
By the end, he has arrived at a place where “the sun is shining and the breeze is gentle” and he is ready to post his invitation for his “dear Rostov” to join him, delivered by a white dove.
Looking for a character as they move through different landscapes with every page turn reminded me of Anno’s Journey (1977), that wordless classic by Mitsumasa Anno — video sample here.
In terms of theme, this book would be an excellent addition to a collection of picture books about war, conflict, and peace for older students to explore (see sample list here).
It pairs particularly well with another picture book from Portugal — Don’t Cross the Line! (2016) / Daqui Ninguém Passa (2014) — by Isabel Minhós Martins (who served as a mentor to Oliveira), illustrated by Bernardo P Carvalho and translated by Daniel Hahn.
Another complementary Portuguese picture book is the award-winning War (2021) / A Guerra (2018) — by father and son José Jorge Letria and André Letria, and translated from Portuguese by Elisa Amado — reviewed on this blog in 2022 by Laura Taylor.
BOOK DETAILS
Title: The Duel
Author & Illustrator: Inês Viegas Oliveira was born in Tavira, Portugal, in 1995. She studied physics and mathematics before turning to illustration. “Inês moves between science and art, author and reader, image and words, trying to break some boundaries. She continues to ask a lot of questions, but once in a while she stops to write or to draw.” (Source)
Translator: Rosa Churcher Clarke is a British-born, Lisbon-based translator from Portuguese and Spanish into English.
ISBN-13: 9781644214022 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Triangle Square (Seven Stories Press), 2024. Originally published in 2022 by Planeta Tangerina in Portugal.
Awards:
- Winner of the Portuguese National Illustration Prize 2023
- White Ravens 2023
- Selected for the Illustrators Exhibition, Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2023
- Paju Bookcity International Picture Book Award in the category “International New Picture Book Authors & Illustrators” 2023
- USBBY Outstanding International Books List 2025
You can buy a copy of the book here or find it in the library. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)
Katie Day is an international school teacher-librarian in Singapore and has been an American expatriate for almost 40 years. She is currently on the GLLI Board and has served as the chair of the GLLI Translated YA Book Prize and co-chair of the Neev Book Award in India — as well as being heavily involved in international school librarian initiatives such as the Red Dot Book Awards in Singapore and the Siam Book Awards in Thailand.
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of GLLI.
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 