What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking

An unruly cast of emotions come alive in this romping dreamworld, a place Maurice Sendak’s Wild Things could call home

Curiosity, a lithe and floppy-eared creature, perches above the open world and gazes out with a zippy blend of hope, wonder, and longing. From the tip of a chimney, we bound into the quiet and mischievous world of feelings, meeting a troupe of tufted creatures as we go. Sympathy helps snails cross a sidewalk to safety, fear pirouettes in an attempt to camouflage with wallflowers, and pleasure reclines across a doily-donned reading chair, sipping a cup of tea. Elsewhere, our insecurities – pesky, cavorting beings – build intricate cages and stride about with clattering sets of keys. Tina Oziewicz’s words hum with truth, and Aleksandra Zajac’s illustrations bloom and burst with charming details like a sail constructed out of a pair of billowing long johns or a red slipper falling from a contented paw. Taking in the perfect harmony of this book is like taking a long gulp from a trusty thermos and filling up with warmth. What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking surprises and soothes, inspires us to feel.

Tina Oziewicz is a Polish author and translator of children's literature. While working as a translator and teacher, she began writing stories for children and published her first picture book in 2007. She has since published ten works of children's literature.
 
Translator Jennifer Croft was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 and a National Book Award Finalist for her translation from Polish of Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights. She is the recipient of Fulbright, PEN, MacDowell, and National Endowment for the Arts grants and fellowships, as well as the inaugural Michael Henry Heim Prize for Translation and a Tin House Workshop Scholarship for her memoir Homesick. She is a founding editor of The Buenos Aires Review and currently divides her time between Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. 

Illustrator Aleksandra Zając (b. 1988), a graduate of the Art Department at Opole University, works on graphic design, drawing and modelling in clay. Her project of the illustrated children’s book Dziksy was shortlisted to the final stage of the Clairvoyants 2014 international competition. What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking is her debut publication.