Summer has returned, and a family sets off once more, by car, toward the coast, toward the sea where our young protagonist feels weightless, buoyed by the waves and accompanied in her aquatic dance by fish and Posidonia seagrass. In the sea, nothing and no one can stop her.
Fran Pintadera and Raquel Catalina
, the authors of
Ingrávida
, published by Bookolia, tell a tender story with great intelligence and delicacy for readers of all ages. Whether consciously or not, the authors advocate for the right that some people claim, year after year, to feel weightless. To not be deprived of that moment of happiness and communion with the sea.
Many readers, big and small, will see themselves reflected in this simple story and will understand, in the end, why the protagonist and narrator loves so much to dive into the sea.
From the very first paragraph, the authors, through the narrator’s voice, drop subtle hints about the true story that the words — and the images — secretly weave. A truth hidden from our sight at first glance. Yet told with such tenderness that the tale sweeps us, alongside the protagonist, into a sensation of weightlessness that caresses our bodies and makes us feel light.
Neither the text nor the illustrations ever rush to reveal their cards. On the contrary, they lift us on a breeze between joy and anticipation toward an unforeseen reality, propelled by the gentle sea breeze.
There you can see the authors’ adept craft, their mastery in softly unveiling the reason why the protagonist enjoys the sea so much every summer, a truth they have cleverly hidden page after page, word after word, illustration after illustration.
It is impressive to see the perfect symbiosis between text and illustration, the complicity that these two disciplines achieve to carry readers calmly toward the ending, cradled by the waves that both elements have created throughout the story.
I have no doubt that readers will close the book with a smile on their faces, thoughtful, ready to reopen it immediately and begin reading once more the story of this weightless girl, in search of the subtle clues the authors, like crumbs left for Tom Thumb, have scattered along the pages.
No es de extrañar que Ingrávida se haya llevado este años el prestigioso premio Braw en la categoría de Ficción que concede la Bologna Children’s Book Fair y también que el libro haya sido galardonado con el codiciado premio Fundación Cuatrogatos. Reconocimientos, ambos, a un trabajo hecho con la delicadeza e inteligencia que esta historia requería.
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Autores: Fran Pintadera y Raquel Catalina. Título: Ingrávida. Editorial: Bookolia. Venta: All Your Books.