Butterfly trip

Description

Mr. Caterpillar had decided to cover the five metres that separated the orange tree from the lemon tree. On the way a flea, an ant, a ladybird, an earwig and a cricket decided to keep him company. On arriving at their destination, Mr. Caterpillar went on alone, and a terrible hornet appeared… Paula Carbonell puts into use formulisms typical in the oral tradition, such as the use of accumulative structures and the repetition of events, which favour and ease the memorization of the text. Using this base, she has created, at first sight, a simple tale but one which also has a second reading. The route the caterpillar covers from the orange tree to the lemon tree, to which different companions are added, ends up being a metaphor of life itself: the change from one state to another, in which friends, enemies and conflicts appear which can only be overcome through solidarity and, finally, love. Chené matches the text with fresh illustrations, with simple drawings but with a great expressive richness thanks to a brilliant combination of techniques. She manages to get away from the cliché we all have of insects in our collective imagination. The images are full of rhythm: in the characters, in the continuity of the sequences and in the range of used colours, non-conventional natural colours. In this second illustrated album, Chené strengthens her own very particular synthetic style, building up scenes using the minimum elements necessary. Text by Paula Carbonell Illustrations by Chené Translation by Mark W. Heslop