Mafalda
Book One
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $8.99
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
Introducing the Latin American comics sensation starring a hilarious 6-year-old whose spunky self-confidence will inspire budding activists and curious readers of all ages.
Mafalda may be small—but her hopes for the world are as big as her heart!
Six-year-old Mafalda loves democracy and hates soup. What democratic sector do cats fall into? she asks, then unfurls a toilet paper red carpet and gives her very own presidential address. Mafalda’s precociousness and passion stump all grown-ups around her. Dissident and rebellious, she refuses to abandon the world to her parents’ generation, who seem so lost. Alongside the irascible Mafalda, readers will meet her eclectic group of playmates: dreamy Felipe and gossipy Susanita, young-capitalist Manolito and rebellious Miguelito. Quino’s bright irony and intelligence bring the streets and neighborhoods of Buenos Aires to life.
You can clearly see Mafalda is small, but her hopes for the world and her heart are huge and as sincere as can be. Generations of readers have discovered themselves in Mafalda, and learned to question, rebel, and hope.
Since Quino first drew her in the early 1960s, Mafalda has captured public imagination in Latin America and beyond. Her wit and empathy have made her an enduring favorite.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This laugh-out-loud collection of b&w 1960s comic strips—the first of a five-volume series by Argentinian cartoonist Quino—stars stout, curly-haired six-year-old Mafalda as she relays precocious sociopolitical observations about mid-century Latin American society à la Charles Schulz's Peanuts. When her father points out their location in the Southern Hemisphere on the family globe, Mafalda ascertains that hanging upside down at the bottom of the Earth explains Argentina's perceived status as an international underdog: "Gravity makes your ideas fall out of your head." Eager to prove that she and others in her community have what it takes to join the rapidly developing vanguard of global scientific enterprise, Mafalda uses the family seltzer pump to power a homemade space suit. Poignant moments also unravel alongside Mafalda's well-intentioned if questionably executed exploits, as when she dreams that her mother has earned a college degree, then wakes to discover her mother as she's always been, a diploma-shaped curler in her hair a sole sign of academic achievement. The assured comedic visual energy of the paneled strips fosters giggles and food for thought via coming-of-age themes that transcend time and place. Ages 7–11.
