Mexico
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Lago, Angela (text/illus.)
Juan Felizario Contento : el rey de los negocios (Lucky Juan : the king of bargaining)
México, D.F. : Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003. – [28] p.
(Los especiales de A la orilla del viento)
ISBN 968-16-7047-7
Fairy tale – Lucky Hans – Happiness – Materialism/Idealism –
Civilisation/Nature
The Brazilian illustrator Angela Lago keeps surprising her readers with new,
unusual pictures – as in this ingenious interpretation of the fairy tale of
Juan, the »King of bargaining«. Juan inherits a gold coin. After several
trade-offs, he is left with a bird’s feather that seems to be worthless but
rewards him with an »immeasurable moment of joy.« Juan’s itinerary begins
in an urban setting scarred with high-rise-buildings and motorways that Lago
illustrates with a chaotic myriad of colourful brush strokes. As Juan leaves
this world behind, the background gradually quietens down. In the last
picture, which shows the moment of happiness, there are merely two soft fields
of colour: the blue of the sky and the beige of the earth. (5+)