Spanish / Spain
Astro
Marsol, Manuel
(text/illus.)
[Logroño]: Fulgencio Pimentel, [2023]. – [56] p.
ISBN 978-84-19737-04-5
Outer space | Astronaut | Extra-terrestrial being | Friendship | Loss | Meaning of life | Picture book
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2024
A fantastic dinosaur-like creature tells the story of how the astronaut Astro landed all alone on its planet. The two of them become friends and together they explore the wonders of nature. But one day the narrator is carried away by a giant winged creature and disappears forever. Astro must learn to live alone with this void. Meanwhile his friend continues to observe him from afar. Manuel Masol has written a moving parable about loss, transience, and the meaning of life. The stunning mixed-media illustrations use oil, acrylics, and collaged magazine cut-outs to create an enigmatic world of beauty, mystery, vastness and depth, inhabited by mythical creatures. After some of the pictures were selected for the illustration exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2014, it took almost ten years for the book to be published. It was worth the wait. »Astro« is an exciting, inspiring book! [JW]