Spanish / Mexico
El dragón blanco y otros personajes olvidados
(The white dragon and other forgotten characters)
Córdova, Adolfo
(text)
Blanco, Riki
(illus.)
México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2016. – 121 p.
(Series: Los Especiales de A la Orilla del Viento)
ISBN 978-607-16-4247-9
Literature | Literary character
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2017
What happens to literary characters who only play supporting roles and because of this are less noticed and more easily forgotten? Inspired by such characters from six international classics of (children’s) literature, author Adolfo Córdova created stories about them. Between three and thirty pages long, they tell us about the king of the winged monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz”, about the Fairy with Turquoise Hair from “Pinocchio”, and of Falkor the Luckdragon from Michael Ende’s “Neverending Story”, who gave this book its title. The stories open new worlds to readers and are narrated using poetic, powerful, highly figurative language. The mysterious atmosphere of the stories is echoed in Riki Blanco’s dark-coloured illustrations. The book at its core is about the power of the imagination and the limitless freedom of storytelling: Even side-line characters and events are fertile enough to give rise to ever new stories.