Spanish / Venezuela
El berrinche de Moctezuma
(Moctezuma’s tantrum)
Gómez Benet, Nuria
(text)
Solís Montes de Oca, Santiago
(illus.)
Caracas [et al.]: Ediciones Ekaré, 2022. – [39] p.
(Series: Colección Rimas y Adivinanzas)
ISBN 978-84-124166-8-8
Moctezuma | Ruler | Anger | Defiance | Chocolate | Picture book
Reading age: 4+
White Ravens issue: 2023
Anywhere and at anytime it can happen that the powerful let their position go to their heads. And this is what happens in the case of Moctezuma, the legendary ruler of the Aztec empire. No one knows what has peeved him the morning he wakes up and refuses to go to work. Today there shall be no temple services, no dictation of codices! The imperial court is perplexed, the people alarmed. Finally, a bowl of xocolátl (chocolate) calms Moctezuma down and puts him back on track. This compact, small-sized book, another gem in the series »Rimas y Adivinanzas« (Rhymes and riddles), depicts with wit and a twinkling eye the gap between ambition and reality, the thin line between dignified power and ridiculous showing off and childish defiance. Rendered in rhymed, four-line stanzas, the text contains vivid language and light-footed rhythm. The brilliant, intensive colours of the pictures have a lively effect and are the perfect vehicle for the humour in this story. [JW]