Spanish / Colombia
Radar
(Radar)
Castellano, Daniele
(illus.)
Zocca, Bruno
(illus.)
Bogotá: Rey Naranjo Editores, 2018. – [74] p.
ISBN 978-958-8969-45-9
Outer space | Deep sea | Expedition | Encounter | Communication | Wordless book | Picture book
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2018
This textless book plays out in the infinitely wide spaces of a world where individual artefacts point towards a seemingly lost civilisation. Only two people are seen, and whether they are survivors or pioneers on a risky expedition remains unclear. Equipped with radar devices, the two unwittingly move closer to each other – the one from outer space, the other from the ocean’s depths –, until they meet on a lonesome coast. Neither understands the other’s language, so they communicate using pictures that they draw into a notebook they find on the beach. The journeys of both begin on the first and last pages, respectively (or is it the other way around?) and end exactly in the middle of the book. Illustrators Daniele Castellano and Bruno Zocca each draw half of the story. Their pictures show a colourless world dimly lit in the sea’s twilight and the blackness of outer space, wherein the protective-suit-wearing protagonists nearly get lost. Only once in direct communication with each other are they (re?)humanized.