Ten children's and youth books to enjoy this spring full of flowers

What is planted, born, grows, flourishes, interrelates, withers, dies and is born again could be the general axis of this selection. It is a cycle that invites you to observe, to be surprised, to read and to share.

In Making the world with gestures, Marie Bardet proposes: “Reading, as well as perceiving, is always composing images; speed up or slow down a sentence, complete a word before it is finished; it is to project the supports in the gaps of the unsaid, the stories or the landscapes of the battlefield in which the text was written.” Read and make worlds. Two wonders of the many that occur in reading and its gardens.

In this selection today we get fully into nature by the hand, first, of ants and mosquitoes.

Spring brings more time, more light, more moments to get together with a book. More hours to observe the world, read, share, talk. Sounds, onomatopoeia, words that lull, that awaken, that summon.

For starters, two singing insects

Zum zum, written by Didi Grau, illustrated by Cristian Montenegro. Buenos Aires: Small editor, 2021.

“Zoom

The mosquito buzzed,

Zom-Zom

I sting you”

This is how this story begins where the zum zum puts us squarely in the middle of the book. Another marvelous collection Los duraznos, by Pequeño editor, which bets on shared reading and games, but also on the reading and autonomous enjoyment of little boys and girls. Sounds, humor, tenderness and rhythms in this story that invites you to play. The book proposes movement from the format. We open it and we have to turn to read vertically. We can almost delineate with the passage of the leaves the buzz of the mosquito. Cristian's drawings “are” the flight of that mosquito that buzzes and circles throughout the book.

Another beautiful book from the same creative duo as Cocorococó, from the same publisher, which, if you don't know, we invite you to look for it. A book that is recommendedespecially for reading and playing with the smallest people in the house, with repellent on, of course.

The singing ant. Written by Laura Devetach, illustrated by Juan Lima. Buenos Aires: From the orange tree, 2021.

Did you see that in general ants come in large numbers? These ants are no exception. But... How do ants learn to sing?

“Putting an ear to the old man

and letting themselves be heard

the bakers rose

hums

from here

from there”

Voice of thunder, for example, sings tangos and wants to be called Malena. The ants go rhythmically between the pages of this book, tracing paths, wells, little jumps. Poetry and illustrations make a perfect pairing. There is rhythm, music. The graphic bet surrounds us and we are there, among the ants, listening.

This reissue is celebrated. May the singing ant once again travel the poetic paths between words and images. In that background, seeing you so vibrant, the black ants come, come, scatter, murmur, gather. The words come together. What do ants say when they sing?

This edition features a slightly larger format. And in this explosion of ants gathering leaves, twigs, words?

“With the pencil of the legs

with its petal

its mast

ants make maps.

The wind is coming

they are swept away.

the water comes

deletes them.

Chimichurri chimichurri

sing sing

I don't care what I care

paw to paw to paw

one

after

or

tr

a,

desparra ma das

des pa tarra das

dog

so

and can

so

and can

so.”

A highly recommended book to say poetry with boys and girls, to play with ants, to discover and also to listen to different readings from these and other ants that roam the literary worlds:

The narrator Diana Tarnofky tells it like this and the writer Nelvy Bustamante wrote Ants with ink legs, with illustrations by Eleonora Stream. Here you can read the recommendation.

Four of fruits, seeds, leaves, animals and much more

One day they will see it... Written and illustrated by Sol de Angelis. Buenos Aires: Catapult, 2021.

Sol de Angelis manages to capture moments from childhood. She already did it with her book It's not a box, mom!. The protagonist of this story is called Margot and she is a girl who lives with her father, loves nature, climbing trees and reading books about plants. One afternoon a tooth falls out and when he goes to look for it, he finds something else.

“Margot found something surprising.

—Dad, Dad! Look… could it be the fruit of a sequoia?”

The sequoia is a huge tree, with a thick trunk, especially at the base, with a reddish bark. It has a huge crown and is a very, very long-lived species. Sometimes it exceeds 100 m in height and is native to California. They say it is an ancient tree.

Margot shares her discovery at school, with her friends, with her grandmother. No one knows what fruit it is and everyone repeats that sequoias don't grow in that town. But she decides to plant one of the seeds in the park and take care of it. The illustrations are loaded with details to stop at.

A beautiful story about desire, about freedom, about what grows, about time that passes and remains. A story recommended by the publisher for boys and girls aged 4 and up.

I am a leaf. Written by Angelo Mozzillo, illustrations and photos by Mariana Balducci. Buenos Aires: Embracing stories, 2021.

The wind and the leaves accompany a child who comes and goes between wind, movement, contradictory sensations, time passing. The book enumerates and in that enumeration many possibilities open up: heat, shame, fear, rain, fear, among various other situations and internal and external states. And today?:

“A hot day

A rainy day

One day I discover

One day I get bored

One day a lot of value!

@bonappetegan Some very crunchy roasted chickpeas!We learned how to make them from a cool video by our favourite… https://t.co/BXGiKV9pm4

— John Kott Fri Nov 16 14:23:09 +0000 2018

ONE day some fear…”

THE book proposes a great list and invites you to make them. The photographs of the sheets play with the character drawn online whose eyes and postures also speak. The passing wind is also the protagonist. A visual work of much balance, poetry and simplicity. The combination of photographs, words and images creates an album book that proposes to think about how we are, where we are going, what branches support our days. Andersen Award for best album book of 2021. Recommended for reading and sharing with the family.

Air garden. Written by Laura Escudero Tobler, illustrated by Tomás Olivos. Cordoba: Portaculturas, 2020.

Garden of the Air is a beautiful little book. A book of poetry written by Laura Escudero Tobler, illustrated by Tomás Olivos. In the dedication we read: "To my grandfather Oscar Tobler, star gardener.", says Laura. "To our ancestors and ancestors, to the earth and to the stars.", by Tomás Olivos.

“My grandfather is a guardian

of fire

and time

seeds

and the birds

of what is not saved

in a drawer

it is not forgotten.”

Jardín del aire, from the Periquito collection, from the Cordoba publishing house Portaculturas, is a book that makes you enter the garden hand in hand with that granddaughter and that grandfather, and there you stay, reading it and showing it to whoever crosses my path. Laura writes about wonder, about memory, about silences. The four elements of nature mark a reading rhythm: earth, fire, air, water. And the silence.

The wind, the fruits, the hard work, the passage of time. The seeds and the hand that sows them. The desire to keep the moments. Garden of the Air is a long poem that descends and loses us in the middle of a secret garden. Escudero Tobler in a talk at Ted Córdoba said: “I say yes to poetry, I say yes and I say it's like love: it happens to you and you don't come out the same. (...) It happens to each one in a mysterious way. (...) That is why poetry, like love, is not for a select few. (...) Poetry is a state of the body.”

Olivos' work is strong and joyful. They are explosions of color with a reduced palette. Flat textures and transparencies are superimposed creating landscapes of gardens with details. She says that she loves to draw big arms to hug those who read. He succeeds, here we are totally embraced.

“For my grandfather, time

is infinite

and lives in the gardens.”

Highly recommended for boys, girls, teenagers and why not? Adults wanting to enter the garden.

To a cow, written by Salvador Biedma, illustrated by Pablo Martín Fernández. Buenos Aires: Magical Oranges, 2021. (Mayscule Collection)

“Would you read him this poem?

a cow? to a cow

red or black. Would you read it to him?

What about a spotted cow?

or striped like a zebra?”

Will the cows listen to this poem? Because as the author says at the beginning of this beautiful book, for many, many years at school they asked for compositions whose theme was "The Cow", yes, the cow. He also says that there are days when he feels clumsy and other days when everything goes very well. And so it was with this poem for one cow, or for thousands:

Or do they not know

of poetry the cows?

Or do you not know

of cows poetry?

I don't know how much poetry cows know, but I think this poem is for any living being on this planet. Salvador wrote the poem, shared it, Pablo illustrated it and luckily Mágicas naranjas makes it reach our eyes. The poem and the poet list various questions, for example, about who are not cows. The book invites with humor to be in poetry. Who would you read this poem to... Cows are not elephants, nor ants, nor birds. They are cows.

Biedma's poem is inspiring, it leads you directly into a kind of reflective nonsense and you stay ruminating over there about poetry itself, which also stars in the poem. In addition, verses and images are giving you time in the double pages for a delayed reading. The illustrations are vibrant, expressive and fun. They seem to have influences from the great Pedro Vilar. And those reminiscences lead me to think of others. It is beautiful to read—or sing—this book along with another. I mean The Studious Cow , by María Elena Walsh . Here you can hear it sung by her. I invite you to venture on a tour of literary cows: you can search for example I want to see a cow, by Enrique Fierro, illustrated by La Compañía El Pingüinazo with photos of specially designed objects for the book, edited by Pequeño editor. And for young people, I propose a great novel by Sergio Aguirre : La venganza de la vaca, published by Norma editorial in the Zona Libre collection.

On the back cover, Eduardo Berti says: “how does a poem sound to a cow? And, above all, does a bovine poem exclude those of us who are something else in this world? I got my reader horns into the poem, full of curiosity, and I found something so amazing that... I can't tell it here. They will have to do like me: they will have to read the poem because, sorry, I won't tell them a thing.”

The verses are printed in large capital letters, proposing a shared and autonomous reading. A book to read and reread, as well as page by page, it is nice to read it in one go, an opportunity offered by this careful edition, which at the end includes the poem in a row.

Highly recommended for boys and girls from very, very young, to very, very, very old adults.

Three of different types of monsters

Roberto & Jelly. A big story for big. Written by Germano Zullo, illustrated by Albertine. Translated by Delfina Cabrera. Buenos Aires: Lemon tree, 2021.

Roberto and Gelatin are brothers. Robert is great. Gelatina is little and wants by all means that Roberto or Trobeto, which is what she calls him, stop what he is doing and go play with her. Roberto writes a novel for adults. Jelly plays with her rag monkey, but she wants something else and is very insistent.

“Tac… tac… tac…

Trobet!

Tock…tock…tack…

Trobe…

Trobet!

Trobet!

Trobet!

Trobeetoo!!

Let's play!”

The work done by Zullo and Albertine is delicious. The expressions, the movement of the characters through the pages. The drawings made in a reduced line palette on a bare, simple background dazzle. This album book is loaded with tenderness. The brothers, the different ages. Demands for attention. The time to play and creation are also protagonists of this story. Zullo and Albertine make a wonderful synthesis. The cleaning and dispossession, the puns, the framed story and the use of typography accompanying the illustrations.

“Well, I'll read you your favorite story and

I'll keep writing later, okay?"

But Jello wants more attention... So she makes up her own story, too. Roberto and Jelly is a fun and moving book. The traces of the readings, the stories that feed on other stories, the journeys of the words that make us up.

If you want to investigate other titles by this incredible duo, I suggest you start with these three: Línea 135, published by Calibroscopio, Mi pequeño, published by Limonero and < b> The birds , edited by Red Fox Books. An album book totally recommended to read at any age.

There is a monster in the kitchen, written by Patricia Strauch, illustrated by Natalia Aguerre. Buenos Aires: Tour, 2021.

“Matías woke up,

like every Saturday,

with a hunger of those

that resonate in the stomach.

He went to the kitchen to make some toast.

and couldn't believe what he saw.”

Matías wakes up as usual, but what he finds is extraordinary. He calls his mom and then his dad. The story is given between entrances and exits from the kitchen. A story with a classic structure in which the play with words and the rhyme surprise. Because surprise is another of the protagonists of this story.

The strident illustrations focus on the characters, their gestures and unbridled movements that at times seem to come out of the pages of the book. Continuing with the associations putting together tours, we could add a few more books: And how to recognize a monster, by Gustavo Roldán (h), published by Calibroscopio, Y Las magical shadows, by Lynne Pickavance, published by Beascoa. Recommended for boys and girls who have ever seen (or want to see) a monster.

My sucker. Written by Barbi Couto. Illustrated by The grotesque (Mauricio Michelaud). Córdoba: La terraza editions, 2021.

On Saturday, October 16, the day before Mother's Day was celebrated in Argentina, Ediciones de la Terraza spread this book to the four winds. Mi mamarala is written by Barbi Couto and illustrated by El esperpento, who for the first time made a book together.

The creative duo, in addition to sharing with Vanina Bocco the edition management of La Terraza, has two daughters: Tania and Ema. The story of Mi mamarala arose many years ago, in a morning cuddles and nightmarish dreams of those where fear does its job, hand in hand with blue monsters. That morning, Ema left the words in the safekeeping of Barbi who later mixed them and created this story marked by the rhythm of the words that are built in repetition and the colors.

“Last night I met the blue monsters.

They're bad.

Re bad.

All blue monsters are bad.

So bad they wanted to eat me.”

An illustrated tale full of colors, familiar music from upbringing, from the night and from the hugs that cradle until sleep, calm, returns. We could say that it is a story where love is the great protagonist, along with the rainbow fairies, the guardian unicorns, the blue monsters and, of course, the apapachos.

Says Barbi: “We invite you to read, download, share, invite and gift to whoever wants to receive it. “We believe that there are few things more beautiful than sharing a story in reading.”

Like the rest of the publisher's books, it is published under Creative Commons licenses, so that new bridges can be built between creators and readers. The editorial believes in collective construction and joint work. The digital version of his books is freely available to those who request it because they believe in an increasingly free culture. This book is only available in digital format.

A book to share with the smallest people in the house —and not so much—, especially in the mornings that follow a nightmare, or at night before going to sleep.

To finish: a life not so different…

Life of the dead. Written by David Wapner, illustrated by Matías Trillo. Buenos Aires: Calibroscope, 2021.

Life of the Dead is a book that as soon as you hold it in your hand makes you want to touch it. The lid has a texture that falls in love. Like this, with the dead and everything. Because this death is special:

“He was the only dead person in town.

They kept a watch over him one day,

The following day the burial.

And then the dead man returned to be veiled,

and later the burial.

It was a dead man's life.”

Can you imagine a dead person dying over and over again? Can you believe it? The dead man in this story does. It doesn't stop dying. Satire, philosophy, irony and humor. The format of the book, elongated horizontally, hardcover, already introduces us to the story.

Wapner is profoundly ironic and with almost millimeter intelligence builds a magnificent story of black humor. In duo with trillo they really do magic. A book to look at, read, read again, look at, discover. From Mexican skulls, armchairs and even an old jukebox that surely does not stop playing. Black and white as backgrounds that alternate and delight in details and constructions that have incredible strength, a book to laugh at, think about, look at, discover. The palette is composed mainly of reds, blacks, whites and greens, bright and strong, which take us to Mexico and its celebrations.

The elongated format invites a peripheral gaze, to find new details in each reading. The constructions of the town buildings are wonderful. Inspired by the buildings made by the architect Francisco Salamone at the end of the 1930s, they are monumental and we can find them in many towns in the province of Buenos Aires that anyone who has been there will soon find them.

On the back cover we find a QR code that in the voice of “Animá las animas” takes us directly to some musical animations that are a pleasure.

The animations, the illustrations, the colors, the animations, the Mexican skulls. A marvel to celebrate the day of the dead (and every day).

Ten books, and many more. Books to meet, explore and enjoy. Books to get into poetry, into stories that are told in the kitchen, at the desk, before going to sleep, in the streets of a town or in the stratosphere with the strong idea of ​​meeting. Books and reading, to, as Marie Bardet says, make worlds. Now that the days are longer, let's take advantage. Because reading needs —and asks for— time. Give it to us.

CONTINUE READING