Il principe azzurro/La principessa fuxia
By: Riccardo Francaviglia & Margherita Sgarlata
Publisher: Carthusia, Italy
Format: Hardback, two-way
One book, (at least) two tales...
I love a good "one book - two tales"-story, and there are quite a few good examples of silent books like this: like "Kaninchentango" by DeVries & Scubert or "Follow the firefly/Run rabbit run!" by Carvalho (reviews of them both to come). They are a wonderful way to learn how to be more attentive when reading pictures, and they open for so many great conversations. Children are often really surprised of how the same pictures can tell two different stories just by changing the reading direction.
The title of this book translates to "The blue prince/The pink princess". Both the titles and the cover illustrations gives the reader the impression that this will be a traditional fairy tale. For the readers that usually read from the left to the right, it feels natural to start with the story of Prince Blue. We see his bravery navigating through all kinds of dangers, like duels, storms and a big dragon. And then we get a totally different story when we read the book again, this time from the right to the left. Suddenly, Princess Pink takes center stage, and we realize that her story was there too, all along, we were just to focused on the Prince to see it.
The book is untraditional in many ways, also in the way that the two royals are not necessarily longing for each others company. If you are an attentive reader, you will find not one, not two but at least three stories hidden in the colorful illustrations...
"Il principe Azzurro/La principessa Fuxia" was a finalist in the 2017 Silent Book Contest. In addition to the winner, a few of the finalists each year gets published, always in the same format: 28.5 x 28.5 cm. For this story, the large format is perfect, it lets the reader get "lost" in the pictures and really get a feel for the difference reading direction can make. The illustrations are very bold, they seem to be made with lino or wood cut and then colored. The characters are very expressive and funny, but the illustrators also portray the different environments in a masterful way, like the double-spread of the boats at sea and the pittoresque village houses.
If you are new to reading silent books, or mediating to new silent book readers, two-tale-books like this are perfect! This particular book is also a good starting point for a conversation on gender, love and friendships.
