Spanish / Chile
Beso de buenas noches
(Good night kiss)
Kalawski, Andrés
(text)
Cociña, Joaquín
(illus.)
Santiago: Claraboya Ediciones, 2020. – [50] p.
(Series: Colección Catalejo)
ISBN 978-956-9825-07-1
Princess | Frog | Kiss | Metamorphosis | Magic | Wish | Imagination | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2021
We all know the part about the princess kissing the frog and his turning into a prince. But this picture book sticks with the princess who suddenly realizes her kisses can transform any imaginable creature or thing. She gets started right away! A fish becomes a bird, a stone becomes a fish, a bicycle becomes a dog whose bark sounds like a bike bell. Walls change their colour, the queen’s hairstyle changes, an old tree transforms into a young octopus, and the princess’s pillow becomes a good night story, as she falls into bed exhausted after all that kissing. This entertaining picture book by Andrés Kalawski and Joaquín Cociña starts at the most stupefying point in the Grimmian fairy-tale and runs with it. The many examples of transformation and the sparingly coloured, somewhat enigmatic black-and-white illustrations invoke the story’s magic and dream-like character, offering readers an invitation to come up with more metamorphoses. [JW]