Spanish / Spain
Robos de leyenda
(Legendary burglaries)
Romero Mariño, Soledad
(text)
Blasco, Julio Antonio
(illus.)
Barcelona: Zahorí Books, 2020. – 61 p.
ISBN 978-84-17374-73-0
Burglary | Robbery | History 1911-2005 | Non-fiction
Reading age: 9+
White Ravens issue: 2021
It’s remarkable how non-fiction authors are able to continually discover new, eccentric topics to write about. In this case, “Robos de leyenda” describes nine spectacular burglaries and thefts from the past 100 years. All have achieved a degree of notoriety and are unusual in that they were executed with finesse, but without using any violence. The book introduces the perpetrators, the often elaborate planning of their deeds, and the various methods the burglars used to achieve their ends. The specifics and highlights of the each theft are explained in a precise, clear, and entertaining way – from the legendary theft of the “Mona Lisa” from the Louvre in Paris to a computer hacker’s ambush on Citibank. But it’s not just the topic that makes the book, with its many story-telling elements, so attractive. Its illustrations, its layout in the style of old newspapers and “Wanted” posters, its pages’ colour palette and its typography are also very well done and make reading the book a genuine pleasure. [JW]