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Friday 28 January 2011

Monsieur 100 têtes - MeMo

Monsieur 100 Têtes by Ghislaine Herbéra, Editions MeMo, 2010


I already partly told you about this book here, it's the winner of the Prix Premier Album  obtained during the last Salon de Montreuil, debut book of the skillful Ghislaine Herbéra.

The making of this book, which is only apparently simple, unchains through the representation of Monsieur’s (the main character) moods. The narrative pretext, from which the psychological and cultural contents of the book derive, are built on the telling of an important day : Monsieur has a romantic encounter and he doesn't know which head to wear to cause sensation with his lady.


From that sort of magic cavern where he keeps his countless heads, Monsieur draws one head after the other, desperately looking for the perfect one. In a windmill of faces, we live all the different typical moods when the heart is in turmoil : shyness, frustration, anxiety, fear, joy, cheerfulness up to the happy ending.

Inuit Masks, Alaska

The text helps us understanding how easy it may be to pass from one mood to another: of how shyness can make us feel foolish and of how, when we feel foolish, we get hurt and anger grown uncontrolled and, when anger grows and we are able to do no matter what. After all, it's known, feelings master us despite our will.

The real brilliance and originality of this book, resides in the manner the author chose to represent those moods: in fact, the heads are masks coming from the whole world. (I do suspect that the masks might as well have been the starting point of the story but, for the moment, I have no evidence to demonstrate this). Amid others, there are masks pertaining to the theatrical and iconological inheritance of some countries: there's the Italian Comedy of Art, as well as the Kyōgen Theatre or the Nō Theatre (see cover image) from Japan, Ihamo Theatre from Tibet or the traditional mask used for the Dance of the Dead, during the Día de Muertos, in Mexico.

The book therefore becomes a cultural pretext, a tool through which we can discover the more secluded sides of the countries represented, gaining substance and evidence in their masks : ancestral expression – passing from idols to carnival masks, from popular tradition to the more cultivated one of theatres – masks have always been a sort of mean for telling of aspects forbidden by prevailing cultures as well as emblem of fears and sacred, passage from human to sacred, object of rituals and representations. From more clearly tribal allegories to the more refined ones, the reader is allowed travel through the book and to appropriate a precious heritage of information.


Bwa, Burkina Faso                  -                  Bengale, India

Going back to the illustrations, what immediately struck me of this book was the intentional cleanness of the images : the only colours evidenced are those of the masks and, at times, of the boxes where they are contained according to representative needs. Every object  contained in the illustrations has a precise aim, for instance : if, by looking at the first table, you assume that the object placed above the door in Monsieur's room is a simple showy decoration, then you will be soundly disavowed because, that one as well, is a mask. Just like the one on the very last table (I'm not telling more for obvious reasons !).

The scene looks bare, the double page is structured on the alternation of foregrounds aimed to highlight the expressions of the represented faces, in a flow with no apparent interruption. Monsieur, captured in the act of trying on the « head » of the moment,  is the thread that contributes to a narrative unicum flowing in the opposition, or consecution, of his various poses. The text, where present, is reduced to the essential. It's a simple skilfully played text, never banal, all played around increasing expectation and desire to discover what follows, that gives us the necessary information to make us feel in want for the next page.


Maltugi, Corea                   -                   Dance of the Dead, Mexico


A well structured picture book, sober, amusing, easy to read that I would suggest also to younger kids.


Copyright© images, Éditions MeMo 2010. Images have been reproduced with the permission of the Publisher, all reproduction being strictly forbidden.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Barbe Bleue di Maurizio Quarello

Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault, illustrations by Maurizio Quarello, Milan Presse, Albums Classiques, April 15th 2010


We all know about Blue Beard, right? So why bother getting a new version of the book? Well, this particular one has been illustrated by Maurizio Quarello!
To find our more about this book, please go here.





Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault, illustrations by Maurizio Quarello, Collection Albums Classiques, 
© 2010 Éditions Milan.

Monday 24 January 2011

Walking in Macerata: interview with Javier Zabala

Do you love Javier Zabala?


If you do then you shouldn't miss the interview I made with him






you can find it right here!


Images Copyright© Javier Zabala 2010. Images have been reproduced with the permission of the authoir, all reproduction is strictly forbidden.

Monday 10 January 2011

Caldecott & Newbery Awards - 2011 Winners

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

To start with something exciting after the blog pause, I have waited until today because: about a couple of hours ago, on  ALA (American Library Association) website, the winners of the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Newbery Medal for 2011 regarding the books published in the States in 2010, have been published. Here they are!

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book


A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip C. Stead, illustrarted by Erin E. Stead, A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing, May 2010. I had shortly told you about this book here, whilst you can find a wonderful post by Jules, at 7Imp, right here.


The two books that have received the Caldecott Honor Books are:

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, written by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc., September 2010.


and


Interrupting Chicken, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, published by Candlewick Press, August 2010.


Let's now passo on to the


John Newbery Medal for the outstanding contribution to children's literature, that has been assigned to



Moon over Manifest, written by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, a division of Random House, Inc., October 2010.


As for the Newbery Honor Books, there are four this year:



Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., May 2010.



Heart of a Samurai, written by Margi Preus, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, August 2010.



Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 2010.




One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, January 2010.



Should you wish to read the complete list of the winners, you can find complete information here.