Manos Kontoleon, Author and Critic
KID AND THE CITY, June 2010
"Monkeys and owls don't see things alike"
 

When Sophia Madouvalou writes her fairy tales she gets confused and no longer knows when she is telling lies and when she is telling the truth. And when this happens, she seeks the advice of little children, who tell their untruths as naturally as when they give accounts of what has really happened. Well known for the unexpected approaches she offers in her writings, the author dedicates this ingenious book to the bulls of Spain, the dogs and cats and owls who can’t see red, but also to the magpies, frogs and all of those who believe that truth comes only in one shade.

With her own especial touch, which always allows several layers of meaning to be read into the text, the author leads her young readers towards a discovery of what being different may mean. Is Monkeys and Owls Don’t See Things Alike simply a tale about eyes and the way that they see colours, or is it a story that will delight both children and grown-ups by revealing why for some the truth is monochrome but for others comes in many different shades?

Since authors and illustrators don’t see things alike, Eleni Tsampra is able to add to the quality of this publication by contributing her own version of the truth. It states that art has neither truth nor lies. It is now black, now grey and now multicoloured.