Spanish / Spain
Pepa Guindilla
(Pepa Chilli Pepper)
Campoy, Ana
(text)
Ábalos, Eugenia
(illus.)
Madrid: Nórdica Libros, [2021]. – 202 p.
ISBN 978-84-18451-56-0
(Nørdica infantil)
Family | Friendship
Reading age: 9+
White Ravens issue: 2022
On the cover she appears quite confident of herself. The girl with the red hair is Pepa Guindilla, a ten-year-old whirlwind, a powerhouse, no longer a child and not yet a teenager, but someone with a clear view of the world around her. With wit, tempo, and forthrightness, never mincing her words, she talks about herself, her everyday life, her best friend Bárbara and, above all, about her family. As she explains right at the start, it is a pretty crazy one, large and chaotic. Not the traditional father-mother-child stuff, but instead – in keeping with the times – a wildly diverse lot. In Pepa’s world there are mothers, fathers, stepfathers, stepmothers, an adopted grandmother, and half-siblings …. Standing up for yourself is not possible without some trouble and conflicts, but Pepa wouldn’t be Pepa if she could not handle all that in her own unique style. With ease and humour, in natural and pithy language, this novel depicts a perfectly ordinary and at the same time inimitable young protagonist. [JW]