This beautiful book came courtesy of a wonderful bookstore in Zaragoza, Spain called Liberia Antigona. They are followers of BBIC and thought I would appreciate this book as much as they do. They were right! The illustrations are magical and nostalgic and although I can’t read the text, it is supposed to be great (according to all the reviews I’ve translated from the internet.) It took me a little while to piece together from different sites what the story is about. Correct me if I’m wrong-they didn’t send along anything with the book explaining the story. It seems the father has been away for a while but returns to his son. He has many tattoos and as he talks about where they have come from, a story of his past emerges- something to do with him being part of the circus. I marvel at these illustrations which take these classic tattoos: sparrows, skulls, roses and sexy ladies, and make them come alive as the characters in the story. I love the idea of using these iconic graphics for storytelling. Both the plot idea and the way the illustrations were executed seem really genius. The illustrator Sergio Mora also did an incredible job of making these drawings seem old with washed out vintage palettes and stained and cracked backgrounds in an almost fleshy color. They are charming with just enough kitsch: like something I wouldn’t mind cutting out of this book to hang on my wall. You should get a copy of this book by contacting Libreria Antigona at libreria.antigona@gmail.com.

© Julia Rothman 2007