André Letria: Se eu fosse um livro


Se eu fosse um livro. 
(If I were a book)
Text by José Jorge Letria.
Pato Lógico 2016. 
German edition: Wenn ich ein Buch wäre.
Translated from the Portuguese by Gregory C. Zäch. 
Midas Collection 2016.

 

On the cover one sees a park bench and on it lies a seemingly nondescript book. But anyone who opens the cover of this actual, mint-coloured book will discover a magical world. The black book on its front cover reveals itself to be not only a cornucopia of stories and secrets – it can also take on any imaginable form. “If I were a book, I would ask a passer-by on the street to take me along home,” reads the first line. And just then a person comes along and picks up the ownerless book. Like a mantra, the book’s title repeats itself and illuminates with each further sentence a new aspect of what books can be. In his subdued colour illustrations André Letria transforms this idiosyncratic book in turns into an airplane, a suitcase, a solitary island, or a lion. (Age: 6+)