Gdzie jest wydra?

English title: Where is the Otter?
Text: Dorota Sidor
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry
Warsaw 2012
Dimensions: 16 × 20 cm
Hardcover: 80 p.
ISBN: 978-83-60850-63-3

“Where is Otter?” is an interactive gamebook in the style of “Choose Your Own Adventure” series. It’s set in the times of Jan III Sobieski – a King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. He was one of the most notable kings of Poland and is known for his great victory over the Ottoman Turks at the 1683 Battle of Vienna.

The story was inspired by the famous pet otter known from the memoirs of Jan Chryzostom Pasek. The interactive adventure entertains and passes the knowledge of the royal palace in Wilanów, its residents and their customs.

The text for the book is a result of a competition organized by publisher Dwie Siostry and Museum of Palace at Wilanów. Dorota Sidor won it by finding and using the otter anecdote and inventing this clever game. We were lucky to be asked to create the visual side of this project.

In this book we used Acuta Bold for text, Scala Sans Pro Regular for side notes, and Old Times American for numbers and texts on the end papers.

Before Dorota wrote the final draft and before we drew a first line, we were invited on a few hours long tour around the museum. We had a great guide. She answered all of our questions and pointed to us what elements were actually from Sobieski’s time. The palace had a lot of owners in the following centuries and lots of modifications have been made. For example, the pattern that we drew on the end papers is actually taken from the only original floor that Sobieski walked on.

Every object, piece of furniture, garb or a decorative samite on the wall illustrated in the book is based on an original (or reconstruction) from the museum. Even the decorative finish (UV varnish ) on the cover was inspired by one of the silk fabrics from the walls.