For a few months now we have been observing how little by little a new profile of storytelling heroes that has hardly been seen in recent years is creeping into the LiJ. We talk about the poor and reviled pigeons, fruits and vegetables and geometric figures, especially those that end in a point.
In the fruit and vegetable sector, a new superhero has entered the market. This is Supertata (SM/Cruïlla), a new series that comes from the United Kingdom where it has had quite a bit of acceptance. Sue Hendrá and Paul Linnet have come up with a fun formula to give life to the healthiest foods in the supermarket and which evokes Artur Laperla’s Super Potato too. Without leaving the supermarket, the Vivim del Cuentu collective has come up with a small collection (Baula) where fruits are the protagonists –The pear is the repera– and in whose simplicity of image (Sebastià Serra) and lyrics lies freshness of the proposal for the little ones. The Catalan author Mà rius Serra also opted for an unusual combination of protagonists in his recently released collection Showcat (La Galera), where a calçot, a rose or a toast embark on an adventure of territorial discovery.
The pigeons have also decided to take control of the discourse and claim their role in the LiJ as companion animals. As it is. The story of David Pichón (Flamboyant) is a fun example. The English author of Indian origin Swapna Haddow follows the adventures of two specimens who manage to enter guests into a human’s house and get rid of her annoying cat (from 7-8 years). The illustrator Sheena Dempsey puts a face to this pair of narrators with whom a series begins with many feathers and not a few laughs. In this line we also find Héctor (Three Sad Tigers), by Serenella Quarello and Mikel Casas, where a pigeon from “the noble and respected lineage of pigeons” tells us with great optimism how pigeons see themselves and what role they play in cities (6 years).
Apart from these new protagonists, the crop of books for the little ones is loaded. Among them we find that of a mysterious object created by the Englishwoman Emma Yarlett, which is taken over by quite a few characters from the forest, each of whom manages to give it a different use. But this Es mÃo/És meu (Edelvives/Baula), only belongs to an animal and it will soon be discovered who it belongs to (3 years). Without words but definitely eloquent is the book that the Norwegian Tini Malitius publishes by the hand of Lóguez. Shhh! A story of thieves is about that, about a stealthy and nocturnal thief who in the middle of the process tries to steal something tasty whose owner is not willing to let it be stolen (3 years).
Irresistible is also the series for the little ones (1-2 years old) by English author and illustrator Daisy Hirst, who has created a world of brightly colored monsters that she keeps track of. What do the monsters play? Kókinos) is one of the titles in this series where we also discover what these adorable characters eat, how they travel and what they wear. Captivating is also the new work of Germano Zullo and the multi-award-winning illustrator Albertine, who have once again united their talents in The Blue Book / El llibre blau (Red Fox Books), where imagination creates a true work of art.
The dragons of Sant Jordi cannot be missing, so we have chosen one in particular that is not allowed to be hunted by anyone, although we suspect that this is not the objective of How to hunt a dragon without leaving home (Narval) by the cultural popularizer and writer Javier Fernández Jiménez and Rafael Estrada (Illustrations).
If before we talked about singular protagonists, these are not far behind either. They are geometric figures signed by Cruschiform, a French studio founded in 2007 whose transgressive philosophy translates to Once Upon a Shape / Hi havia una forma (Barret ), a fairy tale illustrated by Gazhole (very given to these experiments) that at first glance looks like a book dedicated to geometry, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Here princes and princesses, kings and queens parade in a very peculiar way, and many play DJs (5-6 years). Geometry also has a lot to do with the illustrations that Júlia Sardà uses for La reina en la cueva / La reina a la cova (Blackie Books), a story about the transition to adolescence and adult life; a journey between exciting, mysterious and, why not, terrifying (9 years). Also a terrifying point is La venganza de Oinc / La venjança de l’Oinc (Takatuka) by Tosca Menten and Elly Hees where no one ever said so much about sausages, maybe even things we don’t want to hear.
The reissues are a Sant Jordi classic. There we have Cesc, one of the main references of Catalan graphic humor of the 20th century, whose street portraits of simple people published in 1962 now partly brings together Kalandraka in a collector’s case for all audiences that contains La florista and L ‘scombracarrers. Nórdica also reissues, but now in Catalan, its Mites Nòrdics by Eva Manzano for young audiences, with attractive illustrations by Eugenia Ãbalos. By the way, Eva Manzano also offers us this Sant Jordi an intelligent diversion to take into account. This is The Book of Butts (NubeOcho) a magnificent review of the history of buttocks and a fun look at our current situation, illustrated with art by Emilio Urberuaga.
Another book that uses the buttocks as a claim is that of the writer and illustrator Anna Fiske in Everybody has a butt / Tothom tea a darrere (Impedimenta), where the buttocks give rise to talk about the human body from a perspective that is not only informative , but also of consent and suitability.
Going back to the classics, one of the most spectacular reissues is undoubtedly the one published by Flipbook of The Adventures of Pinocchio. Once again, the work that he has commissioned from the MinaLima team honors his reputation with the work of Carlo Collodi. The book, with small pop up creations, is a small artistic jewel for collectors.
Comics and graphic novels continue to rise. Of the proposals received, we are left with the Green Things (Errata Naturae) by Ole Mathismoen and Jenny Jordahl, who through the cartoons give us a magisterial lesson on the environment.
The Catalan author Miriam Tirado, and bestseller with El hilo invisible, delves into the youth sphere with an initiation novel that has all the signs of becoming a fashion series. My name is Goa / Em dic Goa (B for Block) follows the life of a 12-year-old teenager who, on her birthday, asks as her only wish that everything go back to the way it was before. Her parents have separated, she has gotten her period, her name causes her more problems than anything else, and for dessert, her father’s new partner is pregnant. A work without many more pretensions than to empathize with a complicated age where everything is emotions.
