-It was an ordinary afternoon. For anglerfish.” This evening is what Maite Mutuberria tells us in this album. The book has very few texts and the images tell us very well the development of history.
From the beginning we can see in the illustrations a large and quiet anglerfish, well defined with very few elements; Mutuberria, for example, plays with the anglerfish's gaze to create the reader's smile, so that we realize the intentions and behavior of the anglerfish. The anglerfish is standing, the mosquito says that the anglerfish is “azzzperto”, but we will soon realize that the mosquito that upsets the anglerfish and the snail that it provoked for looting, or the ant that comes next, the spider… until it touches the grasshopper, which gets the anglerfish not bored for a long time.
It has already been said that it is an album with few texts, and in the text the onomatopeyas and the games of words stand out. While the mosquito says “aizzzu, ezetzzz harrapatuzzz”, the snail can only pronounce “aaaiiizuuu, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez haaarrraaap…” before being devoured by the anglerfish, or the grasp will whisk it with great certainty “hear -o-o-no-ez”. And as long as one murmurs, another screams, he will swell or scream, on the regular night of the anglerfish.
It's a fun book that you can repeat to young children over and over again. Ideal for playing with images and text, which leaves a very nice sensation in the reader at the end. And not only in the reader, but also in the members of the jury of the Compostela Prize, as last year a toad Arrats was finalist, so the book has been published in other languages – Italian, Portuguese, Galician, Spanish and Catalan – in addition to the Basque language.
Therefore, the latest work by
Maite Mutuberria is a highly recommended book, in its simplicity, which provides a lot of information in small details, such as protection sheets; which constantly plays with words; and with both, with images and texts, achieves a very simple and fun narrative for the enjoyment of the reader.