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 illustrated book “I don't even care”, by Márcia Leite and Jean-Claude Alphen, addresses, with sensitivity, but without disguises or mincing words, the difficult transition that every child faces when faced with a new role in family life: becoming someone's brother or sister. A delicate book about discovering the genuine sensations that affect growing up, such as jealousy, loneliness, frustration and acceptance.
 
Reality, fantasy, games and symbolic play mix throughout the narrative sequence in the book I EVEN CARE. By “playing” as a mother, by waking up her little brother, by “hurting” her toy bear, by allowing her contradictory feelings to have real consequences, the girl has the possibility of playfully experiencing what she still cannot name: why did everything become so different after “that” baby arrived? person, through simple, direct and dialogical language: the girl is constantly talking to herself or someone. Speaking for the character and not about what she is doing, feeling or thinking, the text does not commit to explaining or facilitating the reader's understanding based on some binary judgment of right or wrong, leaving the reader the freedom to interpret according to their possibilities.
 
The illustrations - representations of actions - also seek dialogue with the essentials of the narrative through the path of simplicity and synthesis. The images add, complement or contradict what is announced by the character, often presenting elements that will give clues to the reader to choose what they understand as the real world or the imaginary world. The expressiveness of the illustrations is remarkable. It is not necessary to see the girl's face, for example, to imagine what she is feeling or thinking. The gesture, posture, shadows, body movements of the girl, the toys and the dog guide the reader's understanding of how the girl feels or what she wants.
 
Growing up is not easy and books don't always need to show pleasant situations all the time.  I don't even care seeks to give voice to disguised jealousy, camouflaged in indifference. I do care would be the real statement if the ambivalent and often unnoble feelings of the older brother for the younger were socially authorized.