One cat named Sergei Yesenin, a monster with two teeth, three buckets of diamonds, four fake gold coins, five colored fairies, six little mice, seven silver buttons, eight spider legs, nine boletus mushrooms and ten stones. No, these are not the ingredients of a very dubious soup recipe, but everything that makes the new book of Sotir Gelev “ How Laura learned to count to ten” in required reading for any adventure-seeking child.
Sotir and Penko Gelevi are known to the public with the series about Ilyicho and his friend Augustus, a scumbag, which includes the titles "Ilyicho and Augustus", "Ilyicho, Augustus and the seven dwarfs" and "Iliycho, Augustus and Gergin". This time, Sotir Gelev himself writes and at the same time illustrates the story of little Laura, who goes through a series of trials and riddles to walk the difficult way to the number ten and then home.
Counting to ten is actually not such a difficult task - someone who has done it at least ten times would say. But Laura is not. She only knows the number one, and that turns out to be woefully inadequate. Especially when you feel like eating one, another, another, and then another pancake.
Therefore, the brave girl embarks on a series of adventures. Fortunately, Laura is not alone - her faithful companion during the great undertaking is Sergei Yesenin, who is a cat, albeit with a male name (but that's a long story). She is also helped by the Monster, the dwarves, the dragon, the fairies, the mice, the Robber, the spider and the Witch! Laura also helps herself a little. And now the complicated task is not so complicated anymore.
How Laura Learned to Count to Ten is a story for little ones, but it contains important lessons that we learn every day. Witty and witty, Sotir Gelev outlines (both literally and metaphorically) the path to growth for each of us. At first glance, it may seem scary, because the unknown always scares us, but it is actually not that difficult to walk through it. And when that path leads to mom's yogurt potato dumplings, it turns out it was worth it. Because Laura, like us, never turns down potato dumplings. Especially with yogurt.
About the author:
Sotir Gelev was born in 1960 in Asenovgrad. He took drawing lessons with Georgi Kovachev - one of the most gentle and elegant Bulgarian landscape painters.
Sotir graduated from the School of Performing Arts in Plovdiv. In 1982, he made the animated film "The Chicken". The following year, he realized it professionally at the State Studio for Animated Films."The Chicken" participated in the Berlinale 1984, and the same year won the "Golden Pigeon" in Leipzig.
While studying at the Academy of Arts, he drew comics for the RAINBOW magazine. His series based on Tolkien's books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" contribute to the popularization of fantasy literature in Bulgaria.
In 1991, Sotir and his brother Penko Gelev created the comics magazine "Rix". For the magazine, Penko drew the comics "The Song of the Axolotls" and "Corporal Neck" based on his brother's scripts. Sotir drew the comic "Zhmak and the Secret of the Feasts".
After 1991, Sotir worked in the field of graphic design, television advertising, made special effects for several films. In 1997, he published the collection of poems "Afternoon Meatball".
In 1995, Sotir and Penko founded their own graphic design company. Over several years, they created many posters, trademarks, book and magazine layouts. In 1997 they released the Mowgli comic album by Penko.
In 1998-1999, they wrote the script for the film "Magicians" and realized it as producers, and Sotir directed the film together with Ivan Georgiev. A year later, Sotir and Penko wrote the script and shot the film "Kolobar" for the Bulgarian National Television. Sotir is once again directing the film.
From 2001 to 2007, they were producers of the children's TV series "Physics and Astronomy Tales". They realized two hundred and fifty episodes from it. Sotir Gelev is the screenwriter of a hundred of them.
In 2008 and 2009, the two brothers produced the series Good Day Mr. Jasmine (again for children).
In 2011, Penko produced the television film "Yellow Dog" based on the script of Sotir Gelev and Maria Nikolova (she is also the director of the film), and Sotir created the author's animated film "Chicken" (a remake of "Chicken" from 1982).
After 2009, Penko and Sotir began working on a series of animated films. In 2016, their full-length animated film "Zeotrope" was released.
Penko is the producer and Sotir is the screenwriter and director of the film.
Sotir and Penko, together with their colleagues from "Rainbow" magazine, organize the "Rainbow Project" group, whose goal is to popularize and revive the art of comics in Bulgaria. After 2012, they released the albums "Over the Rainbow", "Over the Rainbow 2" and "Arakel". For this album, Sotir created the comics "Ghost" and "Patent 64246", and based on his scripts, Penko drew the comics "Dicho Padarya must die" and "Tamara".
The album "Arakel" was entirely created according to Sotir's script.
Sotir and Penko are the authors of the Ilyicho and August comic and book series, which includes Ilyicho and August, Ilyicho, Augustus and the Seven Dwarfs, and Ilyicho, Augustus and Gergin.
In 2016, the book "Ordinary Conversations" with illustrations by Penko Gelev, written by Sotir Gelev, was published.
