Spanish / Mexico
No somos angelitos
(We are no angels)
Gusti
(text/illus.)
Ciudad de México: Océano Travesía, 2017. – [64] p.
ISBN 978-607-527-327-3
Down syndrome | Otherness | Inclusion | Picture book
Reading age: 6+
White Ravens issue: 2018
In his highly unusual book that garnered international attention, “Mallko y papá” (Mallko and Papa; 2014), Gusti describes his relation to his son Mallko, who has Down syndrome, in a personal, honest and moving way. He now has a further book out on the topic. This very humorous picture book is once more about a boy with Down syndrome. Because he is “special”, some adults consider him a “treasure”, “sunshine”, a “gift from God”. Sure, he is wonderful and loveable – just maybe not all the time. He can be mean, too, and fray his parents’ nerves to the utmost. “No somos angelitos” zeroes in on and pokes fun at the often idealized, unsure, inhibited contact taken up with people with Down syndrome. The pictures seem as if drawn by a child’s hand, employing few lines and colours. They are amazingly simple and reduced. The book’s comedy is created by dissonances between text and image, between wishful thinking and reality.