Mangia che ti mangio
By: Iela Mari
Publisher: Babalibri, Italy, 2020 (First published in 1980 by Emme Edizioni)
Format: Hardback
Fast-paced action
Iela Mari (born Gabriela Ferraio) is a very important artist to know if you want to learn about silent books. She has written several titles, both alone and together with her husband, Enzo Mari. They have all had an immense impact, both on the world of silent books in particular, and the world of picture books in general. One of Iela Mari´s motivations for making these books, was to draw attention to the simplicity and beauty found in simple shapes, as a reaction to the bombardment of images she found children being exposed to through television.
Simplicity and beauty of shapes are the themes for all Mari´s books, together with transformations of both nature and objects. Mangia che ti mangio is a favourite with both young and adult readers at Fabel silent book library, because it is such an action-packed book that is really fun to mediate. The title translates to "Eat, and I´ll eat you", and this is the essence of the book: the eternal cycle of life. Mangia che ti mangio is a neverending hunt: The panter hunts a wolf, who hunts a cat, who hunts an eagle, who hunts a snake, who hunts a frog, who hunts a dragonfly, who hunts a mosquito, who hunts a hunter (human), who hunts a tiger, who hunts a crocodile, who hunts a panther...the circle repeats itself infinitely.
The very first editions of this book had a spiral binding. The book was presented in a case that had all necessary text (Title, peritext etc.) printed on it, so that the book itself was completely text-free. Because there was not text, no obvious front page and spiral binding, the format itself was a perfect instruction on how read the book - start anywhere, stop anywhere. These editions became too expensive to publish, so the later editions, like mine, are standard hardback books with the title on the first page.
Original version with spiral binding
Current version with traditional hardback binding
What makes this book so much fun to mediate is the pace, the feeling that everything happens quite fast, because Mari´s illustrations demonstrate so much speed and movement. I find children holding their breath with exitement, rooting for each animal not to get caught. (Interestingly, many children point out that it is unfair for the human to be armed with a rifle as none of the other animals have weapons - good point!) Mari also illustrates size in a very interesting way, some of the larger animals simply does not fit on a spread but need up to four pages for their long bodies. This also add to the fun of reading, it keeps the reader guessing what kind of animal will appear.
Mari´s animals are not the cute, antrophomorfical animals that are usual in picturebooks for children - they are the hungry, potentially dangerous animals found in nature.
There is a special twist to this book that I find very interesting. The cover shows a brown wolf chasing a black tail. But if you turn the cover, you see that the wolf is half brown and half black - it is chasing itself. An interesting comment to life, maybe that is what we all end up doing?
