Some books make us laugh – a quality capable of making the reader turn the pages back and forth, seeking to repeat the experience of having unexpectedly found a piece of joy.
And sometimes I laugh, I know, I'm sure: laughter awakens from fear itself, when, suddenly... the fear passes! And this quality of dealing with laughter has the toy book What a crazy animal! , by Enéas Guerra (Solisluna, 2012), for young, very young children, who are afraid of animals with pointy ears, beaks, snouts, mustaches, staring eyes that emerge from the territory of dreams and amazement, between ancient myths and tutus that pamper people.
Now, a book is commercially classified as a toy book when it combines and explores a hybrid materiality with tactile accessories, folding, movements, etc. to “distract” readers. It is not in this sense that I present this work, but I am thinking about all its form, function and content... If folklore is a source of spoken toys, as primary genres of verbal creation, why not think of the book itself as a paper toy by promoting rapprochement between generations, through cuddling and articulating their first sounds? That's what Eneas Guerra does.
The author, starting from the same contour or the repeated shape of a mask, experiments with graphics and colors that multiply these animals, crazy animals, real animals, very Brazilian animals and imaginary animals. He works variations on the same “theme” and, at the same time, improvises and lends voices to each creature. They are onomatopoeia, yes, taken from the common vocabulary of family games of au-au , meow , quiquiqui , from comic books ( grrrr ) and other invented sounds – iau iau iau , cronf cronf , ugli ugli ugli in a very free, funny way , that the ugly animals soon turn into... fun nightmares!
What a crazy animal! it does not convey a story or even a narrative; It is neither narrative nor poetry. It does not obey the slightest verbal syntax, whatever it may be. It is, first and foremost, a guttural, phonetic work, full of suprasegmental elements of human speech... and moves in rhythm with visual parataxis, with possible exchanges and combinations. It's a book that plays with readers' imagination and little hands. Very good!
Review published in Dobras da Leitura O'blog on September 12, 2013.
