Spanish / Venezuela
Los carpinchos
(The capybaras)
Soderguit, Alfredo
(text/illus.)
Caracas [et al.]: Ediciones Ekaré, 2020. – [40] p.
ISBN 978-84-120600-8-9
Foreignness | Rejection | Difference | Solidarity | Freedom | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2020
Life in the chicken yard is running its usual course until, out of the blue, the perplexed feather folk find themselves standing across from a bunch of capybaras. They are different, don’t know the rules, and are “wild”, one hen says and gets her chicks to safety. But the newcomers are themselves looking for protection from the hunters who are after them. Now, as so often happens, strangers become friends as each gets to know the other and learns to appreciate their different qualities. In the end, the chickens and the capybaras journey off together to try their luck elsewhere, far from the humans, who are surely their greatest threat. This book offers a wonderful interplay between its short, laconic text and simple black-and-white illustrations, which feature a few red and brown accents. The pictures stand out in their keen and subtle comicality. The animals’ facial expressions and other little details bring the real depth of this sympathetic, wise, and surely not at all simple animal story to light. [JW]