Spanish / Chile
Familia de palabras
(Word family)
Siemens, Sandra
(text)
Frankel, Yael
(illus.)
Santiago de Chile: Claraboya Ediciones, 2023. – [60] p.
(Series: Colección Catalejo)
ISBN 978-956-9825-30-9
Language | Word | Association | Picture book
Reading age: 7+
White Ravens issue: 2023
Which words can be combined, for example, with »house«, »train«, or »school«? Does »cabbage« go with »cat« (due to the colour of its eyes) or »flies« (because it likes to hunt insects) or »rice« (which it scratches out of its fur after eating)? »Ah, no«, says the narrator, »I don’t even have a cat…« And that is how this charming book continues. By letting thoughts wander and associations bubble up, Sandra Siemens gives the reader a taste for the riches and the possibilities of language in a surprisingly simple way. Yael Frankel’s gentle, enigmatic illustrations in no way lag behind the witty text. At times sixteen square, roughly sketched and thematically quite unrelated pictures fill the entire page, at other times a single picture is surrounded by lots of space, inviting further thoughts. By using different techniques and styles, by free association and the use of collage, the main idea of this book is realised in a congenial manner: Whether in text or image, there are no limits to the creativity of language. [JW]