I just came across this amazing new illustrated book for children that is an ode to the existence of cultural harmony and acceptance of ethnic diversity in none other that the cultural melting point of New York, estimated to be the most linguistically diverse city in the world today, home to more than three million foreign-born residents who speak over 800 languages. The book is illustrated by Ecuadorian-born, New-York-based illustrator Carla Torres, who partnered with Belgian-born, Venezuelan-raised, New-York-based writer Nat Jaspar to bring the project, funded on Kickstarter, to life.
In the story, Larry, the American dog invites all his friends for his birthday party. His friends belong to different countries and are a diverse ethic group, and each character has been illustrated beautifully to represent nuances from his home country. I was simply left smitten by Larry's wonderful group of friends. Here they are:
Larry, a juggler from Brooklyn
Magda, the Polish Pig, a tightrope artist
Henrik, the Irish Hare
Cecelia, the Peruvial Llama
Gugu, the African Zebra, lead percussionist at the Apollo Theater.
Sumita, the Indian Elephant
Coqui, the Puertorican frog, a violinist
Fu, the Chinese Dragon
Laila, the Iranian Cat, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History
Ulises, the Greek Owl, a chef who bakes a cake for Larry
Jin, the Korean Fox
and two of my most favorite ones,
Rimshi, the Tibetan Yak ( I simply loooooved him.......)
and, finally, the very cute...Ashki, the Native American Buffalo
In the end, they all have a blast!!!
Can a tale be any better with such heart warming characters and such wonderful detailing??
Hats off....Carla Torres.......
