The adventures of Darinka and her friends

For children aged 4–10

Darinka is a five-year-old girl who lives in a little house in a village with her parents and two siblings – seven-year-old Zuzka and nine-year-old Tom. All three are friends with their neighbours, Oliver, Sebastien, Saša, and Pavlínka. Over the course of a year, Darinka, her siblings, and her friends experience various adventures. They go mushroom hunting and blackberry picking in the forest, prepare for a spook festival and a carnival, go on a dangerous hunt for cockerel feathers to make Native American headdresses, create potato gnomes, bake Christmas biscuits, go sledging, and conjure snow queens out of trees... The story of Darinka, her family, and friends begins in autumn and ends just before the summer holidays, as Darinka gets ready to visit her grandparents in the mountains.

Each of the twenty-three chapters is accompanied by colourful illustrations by the author.

The book is intended for preschoolers and younger school children. It can serve not only as a lovely bedtime story but also as a guide on how to have lots of fun and make new toys using things from the world around them.

About the author:

Mgr. Petra Vondrová, Ph.D. (1974)

An educator, lecturer, writer, and painter. She graduated from the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno, specialising in creative play and art for young children (aged 2–10). She publishes books with artistic themes as well as texts for children. She finds inspiration in nature, everyday life, her travels abroad, and contemporary art. Her published books include The Adventures of Týnka and Pavlík, Art Techniques for Children, Artistic Inspirations for the Four Seasons, Creative Games and Fairy Tales, Creating with Things Around Us, and Fun Art Lessons. She also holds author readings and workshops (which she calls “creative sessions”) for preschool children and primary school pupils. The Adventures of Darinka and Friends is her first book with ČAS Publishing.