Alicia Baladan is an Italian illustrator whose work has given me yet another reason for massively improving my Italian. I love this work -- with its beautiful palette of colors and evocative imagery. Her latest children's book "Una Storia Guaraní" is about the Guaraní Indians of Uruguay and their sacred and incredibly useful relationship to the spider. (You can see more of her moleskin sketches for this project on her blog.) Here's a brief description of the book from the publisher:
"For the indigenous Guaraní the spider is the most sacred animal. When a child is born, you put a spider in the window of the hut to defend him from other insects and some mothers, in hot weather, they build the web around the cradle. The webs also treat the wounds of the men returned from hunting. This is why the web is the most precious gift. But it is also the most difficult to obtain. Deciding to give his beloved a spider web, a boy enters into the forest, encoutnering strange people, animals, and mysterious, arcane presences. A story of initiation into adulthood, enchanted and fragile, to remind us of the delicate balance on which rest the life of the heart and of nature." (I cleaned up the google translation which got a bit wonky towards the end.)
Midori Snyder is the author of nine books for children and adults, published in English, French, Dutch, and Italian. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition....
