SUMMARY

Readers are greeted by Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė, Editor-in-Chief, in her column “Welcome”, which introduces the central theme of this issue – the toy, an insepa­rable attribute of childhood and, at the same time, a significant motif in both world and Lithuanian children’s literature, explored in diverse and creative ways. Accor-dingly, most of the articles in this issue examine literary works and photographs de­picting toys from a variety of perspectives. The introductory text is accompanied by a reproduction of Richard Pfeiffer’s painting “Little Child with a Toy” (1910). Justina Kapeckaitė, the new recipient of the Pranas Mašiotas Prize, presents her text Gy­vatė ir jos Karūna (“The Snake and Its Crown”). We present an illustrated postcard by artist Ieva Babilaitė addressed to the reader. In the regular rubric “The Reviews,” publications evaluating Lithuanian children’s literature in 2025 are featured: Džiul­jeta Maskuliūnienė writes about fairy-tale prose, Akvilina Cicėnaitė about transla­tions of children’s and young adult literature into Lithuanian, and Dalia Karatajienė about illustrations in books by Lithuanian authors. The rubric “The Anniversaries” features Inga Mitunevičiūtė’s article Du pliušiniai jubiliejai (rašytojui Maiklui Bondui ir Alano Alexanderio Milne‘o personažui Mikei Pūkuotukui – 100) (“Two Plush Anniversa­ries (100 years of writer Michael Bond and Alan Alexander Milne’s character Win­nie-the-Pooh). In the rubric “We are Sharing our Experience”, Urtė Šulskienė’s ar­ticle Kas namelyje gyvena: tautosaka kaip gyva skaitymo praktika bibliotekoje (“Who Lives in the Little House: Folklore as a Living Reading Practice in the Library”) is pub­lished, describing how dolls representing mythological characters, created by folk artist Asta Liaudanskienė, are used in library educational activities. In the rubric “Retro”, prepared by Lina Kantautienė and Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė, three early-to mid-20th-century photographs of children with toys from the Raseiniai Regio-nal History Museum are presented. In the rubric “Photos Tell”, photographs of two Lithuanian writers – Judita Vaičiūnaitė and Viktorija Butautis – with toys are pre­sented, along with stories about these photographs. The rubric “The Readings of My Childhood” features an interview conducted by Viltarė Mickevičienė with translator and guide Mantas Karvelis. In the rubric “The Articles”, Gražina Skabeikytė-Kazlauskienė presents a study analysing Kate DiCamillo’s book “The Miraculous Jour­ney of Edward Tulane”. The rubric “With a Close Glance” features the following re­views: Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė reviews two monographs by Povilas Blaževičius and Nijolė Pliuraitė-Andrejevienė on children’s toys in Lithuania; Stasys Tumėnas reviews Rasa Praninskienė’s book of fairy tales; and Justina Mieldažytė writes about Eglė Jasė’s fairy-tale novella. A bibliography entitled “On Reading Children’s Literature in 2025”, compiled by Roma Kišūnaitė, is provided as a QR code. The journal introduces a new rubric, “In a Few Words,” in which this time short reviews of four authors’ books about toys are published: Loreta Žvironaitė about Aldona Liobytė’s Lėlė Aili (“Doll Aili”); Kristina Vaisvalavičienė about Ginta Liaugminienė’s Sena žaislų dėžė. Kuo žaidė mūsų močiutės ir seneliai? (“The Old Toy Box: What Did Our Grandmothers and Grandfathers Play With?”); Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė writes about Margery Williams’s “The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real”, and Urtė Šulskienė about Shirley Hughes’s “Dogger”. In the rubric “We Introduce”, Roma Kišūnaitė writes about the Toy Museum in Vilnius. The issue concludes with a chronicle and announcements, while the back cover features Inga Mitunevičiūtė’s article Meškiukas Pedingtonas Londone (“Paddington Bear in London”), describing the famous Paddington statue created by sculptor Marcus Cornish.

Žurnalas „Rubinaitis“, 2026 Nr. 2 (118)