Dorilenia

Greek State Award for Children's Fiction (2006)
White Ravens: Special mention (2006)

When Dorilenia grows up and starts school, her whole family is afraid that she suffers from severe learning difficulties and will encounter a lot of problems. They all worry about her progress until she discovers the magic world of books and her tongue suddenly loosens once and for all! She learns about people's different "tongues" and stops worrying about forgetting things concerning the "other" languages. With a lot of humour, frankness, and an action-filled story, the book helps reduce children's fear of school and of failing in general. It makes young readers think and inspires their imagination. (Source: White Ravens)

A prolific writer of varied and timely themes, Voula Mastori penned Dorilenia, a tender tale of sensitivity, imagination and humour, bringing to light the significant role of reading extra-curricular books in children’s linguistic development. In this story, infants speak their own language and understand all the tongues of the world – both human and animal. But when they begin speaking human talk, they soon forget the other languages and even the fact they once knew them! The heroine of the story, little Dorilenia, who didn’t want this to happen to her, refused to start speaking until the day she visited her school library.