#raquel plitt

[booksandwords]

Ella Fitzgerald by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara. Illustrated by Bàrbara Alca. Translated by Raquel Plitt

Age Recommendation: Early Primary Topic/ Theme: Music, Biographic. Setting: America Series: Little People, Big Dreams

Rating: 5/5

The interesting thing for me about Alca's art style, specifically the colouring, is the clever was the colour mirrors the tone of the story. Grim colours for her mourning and childhood and brighter colours for performing and happiness. The last page with the two Ellas is possibly one of my faves in the series. The illustrations for the whole book are in the right colour tones and patterns for the period. The florals, the dress cuts, the accessories, the wallpaper and telephones all of them are all fantastic for the period. I would guess some are replications of known photos. Alca has clearly done at least some research before illustrating this. That shows and I appreciate it. The art will always make or break the LPBD books and Alca's makes Ella Fitzgerald.

Sánchez Vegara manages to balance the darkness and the promise of the light well. It is very clear as an adult that some upsetting things happened to Ella Fitzgerald that are not mentioned. Some of the dark cannot be ignored but it is framed well. In a way that is almost using the sandwich method. This isn't my fave book in the series but it is a fantastic entry. The art and the research put in make it such a good entry.

[booksandwords]

Agatha Christie by Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara. Illustrated by Elisa Munsó. Translated by Raquel Plitt

Age Recommendation: Early Primary Art Style: Black, white and red, stylised realism Topic/ Theme: Mysteries, biographic. Setting: Europe, the Middle East Series: Little People, Big Dreams

Rating: 5/5

Agatha Christie's Little People Big Dreams may be one of the best I've read to date. And that is purely down to the colouring, or lack thereof, in the illustrations. Adults are more than aware of what Agatha Christie is famed for writing murder mysteries. The art in this reflects that not in styling but in colouring, everything is black and white except for everything that can be red is from cars to flowers from cushions to blood. Every page does have some red on it. I really appreciate the other details as well, the names and birthdates in the graveyard reflecting the victims and publication dates in her novels. Look I did legitimately count the books on the last page I got 88, doing some googling I discovered she published 80. Let's give that leeway to those being for some of those translated editions. The dispensary in the WWI hospital is well done, I feel like it is a mix of the old and the new and it suits the way that knowledge in her adulthood. The end pages were once again not what I would have expected but so fitting for a woman that was attached to and reliant on her typewriter.

The text is done well it moves around the page, fitting where it does best away and from the darkest parts of the page. None of the blocks of text is extensive and does contain sometimes unusual words that may need explaining to young readers. But it is readable and sends a good message about following your passions. The book keeps an upbeat tone despite the obvious potential for it to maybe go dark. As always the photos and timeline included is helpful and span her life. As I said this is likely my favourite of this series to date.