Biga (5 books)
Screenplay: Illustrations Romain
Pujol: Vincent Seguros
Astiberri

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We've read eleven stories at home to our seven- and nine-year-olds, and I would say that I've never seen them so hooked that with the adventures of Biga, an unidentified animal for real, and his friends. They had a pretty intense phase with immortal play, but more than stories were captured by drawings, interpreted as games to find this character and the other.

With the second one, the eccentricities of the blue animal are crazy, until at bedtime the older ones read two or three stories to the younger ones, because the adventures are short, almost all two pages long. From time to time we hear the children laughing at the anecdotes and exits of Biga and his friends. The five books in the Biga collection, edited by Astiberri, speak of friendship, complicity among friends, envy, alliances and betrayals that are often unnoticed. Many adventures happen in school and in their surroundings, even in the house of Biga, where their parents will have to fight continuously – in a good sense – against their incredible powers.

Romain Pujol and Vincet Caute report their stories with tenderness, such as the most mischievous misadventures, the tales of heartlessness or the barbaries of the class climbers. Books have brought together the usual in the children's universe, and perhaps that's why they're so attracted to them. The fact of having short stories, which don't give time to get bored, as well as the particular character of each animal, or the colorful drawings of Caute, or the games at the end of each book: inventions, hieroglyphs, where is Wally? similar, mathematical exercises...

Bego Montorio, Jon Muñoz and Aintzane Atela have translated the five books into Basque (An unidentified animal; Super friend! ; Reviews, click and action! Biga endreda makila and Bat eta Bakarra, published in 2023). I recognize that some expressions extracted from the characters' mouths have caused me a bit of intrigue, by "excessively raised", that children and parents rarely use, but, listen, if we incorporate them naturally in the children's day to day, for that reason.

I do not know if we will have more Biga books in Basque – there is one sixth in the French original. It awaits us at home.