The Carpet from Uzbekistan
«The Carpet from Uzbekistan» is a comics telling about the childhood spent in a very sunny country and about the fear to lose all the components of this childhood — relatives, friends, nature, traditions, when moving to another country. Alina’s mother helps her small daughter to overcome her fears and to adapt to the new life and through the girl’s memories the readers get acquainted with everyday life and culture of Uzbekistan.
The story starts when small Alina and her family move from Uzbekistan to another country. The lead character experiences a lot of fears because of this moving while her mother proposes to discuss these feelings and to think of how to cope with them.
On the way to school Alina and her mother discuss the four main fears that a child faces because of the moving:
1. The fear to lose the house 2. The fear to lose the traditions 3. The fear to be lost 4. The fear to lose the ties with the loved ones
Mother and daughter find the way to overcome each of these fears remembering various stories that happened to Alina in Uzbekistan. The chapters contain non-fiction spreads — they disclose the peculiarities of each location where this or that story from Alina’s childhood took place. At the end of each chapter the girl and her mother make a list of advice that will help to cope with each of the kid’s fear.
After Alina and her mother remembered a lot of enjoyable stories about Uzbekistan and invented what could be done in order to adapt to the new life in the new country the reader returns to the present time and sees that the lead character is going to school. She feels much better, she is ready to make new acquaintances and to overcome difficulties.
At the end of the book we observe that one year after Alina has reasonably accustomed in a new country — she has got new friends, she continues communication with her relatives who stayed in Uzbekistan, her family managed to keep the old traditions and to get the new ones.
Bonus: at the end of the book you will find the recipe of the authentic Uzbek pilaf!
Project team: Illustrations, text, and layout — Alina Umirova Art direction — Yulia Blukher, Polina Plavinskaya Literary editor — Alexander Berger Photographer — Andrey Valmus Book printing — Alexey Shcherbinin
I also want to thank my family: my mom, dad, younger brother Tair, grandmother Vera, grandmother Tanya, grandfather Sasha, and everyone else, including Vlad and my dear friends. You all supported me and helped to collect our memories about Uzbekistan. This book is dedicated to you.