Mordiscos y bocados

Mordiscos y bocados (Bites and Nibbles)

Mordiscos y bocados (the translation Bits and Bites is offered by the publisher) is a short illustrated board book. The text is in verse, written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets, sometimes organised into quatrains (and sometimes with assonance rather than full rhyme). In total there are 36 lines of poetry across 12 pages.

Each page has a cut-out imitating the bite of an animal that is found on the page, and with the fun illustrations in bright block colours with a contrast background, like this one for the caiman: 

There are seven animals referred to in both the text and illustrations (and cutouts): a fish, a caiman (a crocodile would be four syllables in Spanish, making it half a line!), a snake, a shark, a hen, a bear and two beavers. The book ends with a simple drawing of a child’s facial features: 

Given the fact that the only links between the text and the illustrations are the animals (and the child’s face at the end), translators would not be too constrained by the Spanish content – so, a good translator would have the relative freedom to be able to craft a good poetic version in English. There are no culturally-specific items in the Spanish text (and so no problems there for translation either), and it is a fun text overall. The question / reveal format of the text makes this a great one for reading aloud with a group (of pre-schoolers or reception class children?) and getting children to join in. The cut-outs are a fun innovation, making it rather like Peck, peck, peck by Lucy Cousins.

From the reader´s report by Richard Mansell