Portuguese / Portugal
Troca-Tintas
(Colour switcher)
Viana, Gonçalo
(text/illus.)
Lisboa: Orfeu Negro, 2019. – [38] p.
(Series: Orfeu mini)
ISBN 978-989-8868-67-1
Colour | Imitation | Storytelling | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2020
“There once were two friends, an orange-coloured dog, a yellow kite and a… white tree?” Wait a minute! Something’s off. One had best return the book or start it over again: “There once were…” But even the second attempt at starting the story will flounder. Now a cloud is – wait for it! – green. The illustrator is no doubt inept… unless a colour switcher is perhaps involved? This is probably the case since things don’t get any better – in the end, a purple dog and a lime-green sun enter the scene. Gonçalo Viana lights a firework of bright colours and expressive forms, odd characters and looniness in this picture book. “Troca-Tintas” taps into the pure joy and fun involved when we play with the imagination and language and delight in spontaneous story invention. A book entirely without meaning that explores the art of thinking and colouring the world just as it pops into one’s head. [JW]